The open borders crew that seeks to embrace border-jumping immigration criminals often denounces the GOP as "anti-immigrant" because most Republicans want to see our immigration laws enforced. Well, what do immigrants -- legal ones, who followed the law to enter this country and become citizens -- think about the matter,

Their voter registration patterns tell an interesting story.

Minutes after taking the Pledge of Allegiance, new American citizens are urged to register as voters by Democratic activists who see them as natural party supporters who could hold the key to the 2008 election.

But with increasing illegal immigration threatening the economy and security of the United States, many legal immigrants anxious to uphold the laws of their adopted country are moving towards the more hard-line immigration stance of Republicans.

Even in California’s Democratic-controlled San Diego, sizeable numbers of America’s newly-minted potential voters said that illegal immigrants should be penalised rather than given an easy route to citizenship as most Democrats advocate.

“For a long time, immigration was OK,” said Sarah Wright, 49, a seamstress from Mexico who arrived in the US legally in 1986.

“But now, no more. A lot of really bad people come from Mexico and commit crimes.

“People are coming in and having two, three, four babies and going on welfare. Some are making money here and spending it back in Mexico.

"That’s not right. They should go back to Mexico and get a permit.”

Mrs Wright, whose American-born husband Ed served in the US Navy, was one of 1,591 people from 89 countries who became citizens at a ceremony in San Diego’s Golden Hall on Tuesday.

Nearly two thirds of them were from Mexico, whose border is just 17 miles from the city.

These are the sort of immigrants that the GOP embraces -- folks who follow the law, come here legally, contribute to our country and embrace the things that made it great. The Democrats, on the other hand, embrace a different sort of immigrant, one described perfectly by one of the new citizens.

“Those that do come into this country illegally are telling us that they are morally and ethically not trustworthy. They should not be here. It’s insulting to those of us who are here legally.”

So let's be really clear about this. The Republican Party is the party of law-abiding immigrants. The Democrats are the party that spits in their faces by supporting such immigrants. Remember that the next time you are called an anti-immigrant nativist by some liberal from the open-borders crowd -- or by an illegal immigrant who doesn't respect this country enough to follow its laws.

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