President Bush visited the U.S.-Mexico border near Tucson, Arizona, this week to lay out his vision for immigration reform. He named three essential components: ending "catch and release," rejecting amnesty for lawbreakers, and providing legal alternatives for employers to get the workers they need.

"The President got it exactly right," write James Carafano and Matthew Spalding. "Strong enforcement of immigration laws is essential to deterring individuals from living and working unlawfully in the United States."

Only a comprehensive package that addresses internal enforcement, border control, and cooperation with immigrants' home countries will be sufficient.

"If Congress delivers a legislative package that meets the President's goals," conclude Carafano and Spalding, "it will go a long way toward making America a more secure, free, and prosperous nation."

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Read Bush at the Border by James Jay Carafano and Matthew Spalding

Any effective solution for reducing illegal border crossings and the unlawful population in the United States must address all three aspects of the problem: internal enforcement of immigration laws, interna­tional cooperation, and border security. Internal enforcement and international cooperation are essential to reducing and deterring the flood of ille­gal entrants into the United States, making the chal­lenge of securing America’s borders affordable and achievable.

They all volunteered. The U.S. soldiers pitching in with hurricane relief along the Gulf Coast and those fighting and dying in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere decided, on their own, to serve their nation.