The Senate's immigration bill, a bipartisan compromise, has not made the partisans on either side happy. Many on both the left and right are displeased with the legislation and they are ready to tell us why.

Peggy Noonan asks us to stop, sit, and contemplate immigration for awhile. In the meantime we should close our borders and tell the American story to the immigrants already here. “We don't round up and remove. Nor should we, tomorrow, on one of our whims, grant full legal status and a Cadillac car,” Noonan says, “We take it a day at a time. We wait and see what's happening. We do the small discrete things a nation can do to make the overall situation better. For instance: ‘You commit a violent crime? You are so out of here.’ And, ‘Here, let me help you learn English.’”

Clive Crook isn’t satisfied by the Senate’s immigration bill. “Plainly, the flow of new arrivals has to be restricted and regulated,” he argues, “But the right strategy has to recognize the practical limits in a free country to securing the border, and balance efforts in that direction with a visa regime that meets the country's economic needs while lessening the incentives to migrate illegally. It is not an easy balance to strike, but the Senate bill isn't even close.”

John O’Sullivan channels Machiavelli to send a memo to Karl Rove on immigration: “If this bill goes through, it will result in citizenship down the road for between 12 and 20 million Hispanics, mainly poor, mainly low-skilled, and so mainly Democratic voters. That represents a net gain of between four and seven million votes for the Democrats at the very least. That’s why the Democrats are supporting this bill…Of course, what a fool I’ve been! That explains everything. Karl, you’re working for the Democrats. I am, as ever, in awe.Your friend and pupil, Nick”

Tomas Jimenez thinks that we need to reform much more than immigration laws to make the American dream achievable for new comers: “If we are going to take on the formidable challenge of further integrating 12 million mostly poor immigrants, we have to provide better public schools, a more affordable college education, healthcare and jobs that offer a decent wage and benefits so that they and their children are able to rejuvenate the American dream. The real threat is not that immigrants will fail to buy into what's essential to American identity, but that we will fall short in providing them the tools to do so.”