This is a message to Hugh Hewitt and Michelle Malkin and all of the conservative politicians and everyone else who writes and talks about immigration from a conservative viewpoint.

This is not a substantial mistake.  It does not really alter anyone's preferred policy.  But in a world where the word is crucial, where the soundbyte is the message, the damage this mistake makes can be devastating.

When discussing immigration issues we often contrast illegal immigrants with citizens.  We suggest that, before we offer them services, we should inquire as to whether or not they are citizens.  Whenever we say that, we put another nail on the coffin of establishing an effective immigration enforcement policy.

Except for voting and serving on a jury, we should never say that we want to limit this or that to CITIZENS.  Of course for establishing eligibility to vote, the question is always whether a person is a citizen or not.  For other benefits and privileges (especially driver's licenses) the issue should be whether or not they are citizens or legal residents, or whether they are here illegally.  And for my money, legal residents would include citizens, so we ought to be able to leave it at that.  I am aware, however that as a legal term, legal resident may not actually include citizens.

When the issue is brought up, conservatives will say they are for legal immigration--that they would never take away benefits from people who are here legally. But unless the issue is brought to our attention, that is not what we say.

The impact of this minor issue is that the more we say immigrant vs. citizen the more we are open to charges of racism and nativism.  We don't think this way.  We don't believe this.  Romney's response to Guiliani's charge of "Sanctuary Mansion" was right on target.  We presume people are here legally and we certainly don't question someone's legality because of their appearance or their accent.  We internalize that the contrast is between people that are here legally and people that are not here legally.  And yet we say we want to make sure that only citizens can get driver's licenses.

Change the way we phrase the issue.  Always talk about legal resident vs. illegal immigrant.  NEVER use the word citizen unless you are talking about voting rights.  Take way the open border's advocates' ammunition about being nativist or racist.  They may never give up their mantra, but the more we focus the debate on legal vs. illegal and away from immigrant vs. citizen, the less their mantra will ring true among those who are truly grappling with the issue.