America’s immigration debate covers a lot of territory. But rarely do we put ourselves in the shoes of the newly arrived immigrant. That might give this contentious debate some extra perspective.

America's GDP is 28% of world GDP. Our savings pool is larger than the rest of the world's combined. That is with only 5% of the world's population. Our per capita GDP is the highest in the world, outside a handful of mini-states. Officially, 2.2 million new jobs were created here in 2006 alone. In addition we have a temperate climate, magnificent harbors and inland waterways, millions of acres of fertile soil, teeming cities and lush suburbs. Our people are generous, industrious, well-educated, and one way or another, related to immigrants, even if many generations removed.

So who in their right mind would NOT want to live here? If you and I lived somewhere else we would be scheming right now trying to figure out a way to get to America.

Let's take the case of Mexico. If you stand on the south bank of the Rio Grande river you make a little more than $10,000 per year. If you stand on the north bank you make over $42,000 per year. With that kind of arbitrage there is no way you are going to keep people from leaving Mexico and moving next door. A 300 foot high wall along the entire border will not stop them. They will swim, tunnel and parachute. The Mexican economy has been quite strong the past 15 years or so. It is now one of the largest economies in the world. But it is going to be a long time before Mexico catches the U.S., in part because many of their most ambitious and industrious citizens are moving here.

Where I live in Virginia there are large communities of Salvadoran and Bolivian immigrants. Their per capita incomes back home are even lower than in Mexico. El Salvador's is about $5,000 and Bolivia's is about $3,000. Despite having the fastest growing economy in the world, China's per capita income is still only $6,700.  So America is a powerful economic magnet for millions of people on every continent. The basic laws of valuation and economics are going to draw people here by the millions.

A significant contributor to our immigration "problem" is the pro-growth tax, trade and regulatory policies championed and passed by the Reagan-Gingrich-Bush Republicans during the last 25 years. In 1980 6% of America's population was foreign born. Today it is 13%. That flood of people is coming here because we have generated the greatest economic expansion and corresponding wealth creation in the history of mankind. When the S&P stock index goes up 1500% in 25 years on top of an already huge and rich economy you know you have an irresistible lure reaching even the most distant corners of the globe.

How will we know when we have a real immigration problem? When there is reverse migration. In other words, when Americans or immigrants start returning to their country of origin, or moving to some other more dynamic country. With the liftoff of the Irish economy since 1990 (Ireland now has the fifteenth highest per capita income in the world) we have started to see some out-migration of Irish-Americans back to the Emerald Isle. If a development like that becomes a broader pattern we will know our society and economy are in trouble.

In addition to our wealthy, open economy, our competitive university sector attracts immigrants to our shores. Ambitious, smart and energetic foreign students know that the best universities are here in America, that they can get accepted at these (mostly) merit-based schools, and surprise, once they study here they want to stay and live here. By contrast the government-dominated university system in Europe helps drive their best and brightest away.

Immigration, today and throughout our history, is a source of American strength, and we should oppose sweeping restrictions on all categories of immigration. But immigration should occur within the framework of our laws. Higher levels of legal immigration are needed. And an uncontrolled border that yields a steady flow of illegal immigrants is not sustainable from a homeland security perspective, while it feeds public sentiment against immigrants in general, even those who play by the rules. The Secure Border Initiative being implemented now by the Department of Homeland Security will I believe help slow the undocumented flow of people into our country without too much disruption to trade, travel and families.

However, we should be concerned that post-9/11 security measures have excessively reduced American admissions of people fleeing persecution, and push for a return to higher levels of refugee admissions, coupled with a rigorous security screening process.

Political refugees have long been a particular concern for America, and we have to be careful that in the name of fighting terrorism we don't shut out those fleeing terrorism and persecution. The United States has long accepted more political refugees than all other nations combined. Between 5 and 10% of our legal immigrants each year are political and religious refugees. The U.S. is the largest donor to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which has the global lead on refugee matters. We have a long and excellent record on this front, and our nation should head towards the higher level of refugee admissions we had in the 1990s and during the Cold War.

The think tank I work for has been active since its inception on the cultural front of the immigration debate. We have long opposed bilingual education, and have pressed the case for early English immersion in our public schools.

We have also been active against the cultural liberalism that teaches a biased account of American history to our immigrants--indeed to all our students--and are pleased states like Virginia have established sensible Standards of Learning in public schools for teaching history in a positive and constructive way. The Balkanized multicultural view of American society seeks to keep immigrants separate from the American mainstream, while the true genius of America is our successful history assimilating millions of newcomers into the mainstream of our political, economic and social order.

It is worth noting that much of the current wave of immigrants arriving here are Catholic or Evangelical. Many of them are naturally conservative. And of course they are coming here largely to seek economic freedom and opportunity. But if they are taught multicultural clap-trap, or segregated in bilingual education classes, they will be more likely to drift towards the statist side of the political and social spectrum.

Sometime during World War Two--I would peg it between the battles of Midway and Stalingrad--America became the most powerful country in the world. We have maintained that title ever since, through wars won and lost, recessions, inflations, social upheavals and terror attacks. To keep that title we need a growing, young, creative, ambitious population. Right now the populations of Russia, Germany, Japan, and Italy are shrinking, and even China is trying to enforce a one child policy. Based on current birth rates of just native born Americans our population would be almost flat. It is the millions of immigrants coming here that are keeping us young, and growing. I know most Americans think we've built a darn good society, but the next generation of Americans is going to have to continue leading the world to even greater accomplishments, and they are going to need a lot of brains and a lot of brawn to succeed.

Merrick Carey is a former senior aide on Capitol Hill and Navy Reserve Officer. He is currently CEO of the Lexington Institute