We interrupt the scenes of rockets over Tehran and Jerusalem, legislative body bags in Minnesota, tanks rolling down Constitution Avenue, and “No Kings” protests juxtaposed with Democratic royalty arriving in black Suburbans for Alex Soros’s wedding to return to regularly scheduled programming.

That standard fare centers around the issue of immigration, which determined the last election and has defined the last several months.

No issue has better served to demonstrate America’s political dysfunction. For decades, the talk was of “comprehensive immigration reform,” encompassing the core Republican demand of border security and the Democratic imperative of a path to citizenship for many of those already here.

Regardless of the balance of power in D.C., that deal could never have been done. Each side always insisted on a little bit more. As both parties have polarized, the idea of give-and-take, call it compromise, has withered.

Instead, we have an America cleaved by the question. ICE agents conduct mass raids at workplaces and Home Depot parking lots; immigrants without proper authorization hide further in the shadows; and protestors take to the streets.

It must be nice to be all-in on one side or the other. Internal dissonance is reduced. However, this issue hardly lends itself to such lazy absolutes. If you do not feel some degree of conflict around all of it, you are likely not thinking hard enough.

I do not claim to have a comprehensive answer of my own. But I have several observations, 10 to be precise.

1. As John F. Kennedy wrote, America is indeed “A Nation of Immigrants.” Unless you are a full-blooded Native American, your lineage traces to a newcomer. Immigrants very largely built our railroads, fought our wars, and kept the peace. Today, they provide much of our food, tend our homes, often raise our children, and care for the sick and elderly. They are worthy of our respect and decency. Nativists have held sway at various points of American history. Most often, they have been wrong.

2. A sovereign nation requires borders. That should be self-evident, even as the concept is controversial in some precincts of the left. Borders are meaningless without enforcement.

3. Former President Biden’s failure to provide such enforcement did much to accentuate the problem. He was far too captive to the loudest interest groups in his progressive coalition. His party paid a severe price in the last election as various constituencies, Hispanic Americans and Asian-Americans high on the list, swung markedly in the other direction.

4. There is a distinction between legal immigration and illegal immigration. Full stop.

5. That said, all immigrants, including those here against the law, are deserving of humane treatment. A vast multitude of those who voted to empower this administration had in mind the removal of those here illegally and engaged in criminal mischief. Mass deportations, quotas and heavily militarized roundups are something else entirely.

6. Given political passions in overdrive on both sides, it is essential that we remain a nation of laws. This applies to those on the left who effectively deny the importance of legal status. It is germane as well for those on the right who dismiss due process and contort themselves to justify the deportation of a legal U.S. resident with a protective order based simply on the assertion that he may be a bad dude.

7. What passes for an immigration strategy at the moment is just a crisis response. An innovative, purposeful system would identify those skills needed in our country and prioritize such applicants. An all-comers approach fails the strategic test. The same applies to the exclusion of foreign students, who represent some of the best and brightest.

8. Any decent, merciful policy would delineate between those seeking to come here for economic advancement, no matter how understandable, and those fleeing the worst kind of political persecution with its grave consequences. The United States is a large, prosperous, generous country. There must be room here for political refugees.

9. Immigration is not just a matter of what we offer, but also of what we expect. When my parents arrived on the eve of World War II, quick assimilation was the goal of both the new arrival and of broader society. More recently, as the concept of a “melting pot” gave way to the diversity-inspired “salad bowl,” public support waned. On the subject, protestors standing atop vehicles waving the Mexican flag do not exactly speak to loyalty to the new homeland. That is about as effective a political message as “defund the police.”

10. I’ll conclude with this picture that dominates my thinking – that of a fence, as in a defined border if not necessarily chain-link, but with plentiful gates and large welcome mats. Such a day awaits.

Eric Sondermann is a Colorado-based independent political commentator. He writes regularly for Colorado Politics and The Gazette newspapers. Reach him at EWS@EricSondermann.com; follow him at @EricSondermann.