When I wrote "Mexifornia" more than three years ago, much of the criticism came from the academic and open-borders left. The memoir was considered insensitive in our politically correct age for complaining that it was not wise or moral that millions were here illegally from Mexico.

But lately I have heard far more fault-finding with "Mexifornia" from the grassroots middle and right, over both my advocacy for some sort of earned citizenship for most hardworking illegal aliens and my objections, on both practical and ethical grounds, to mass deportations.

Why the shift in public opinion?

Broad class considerations are now transcending particular party, racial and ethnic views of illegal immigration, pitting the well-off few against the less-fortunate many. Many of the more privileged Americans who frequent fancy restaurants, stay in hotels and depend on hired help for lawn and pool maintenance, home repair and childcare don't think illegal immigration is that big of a deal.

Those in the higher-paid professions do not fear low-wage competition for their jobs in law, medicine, academia, the media, government or the arts. And many who have no problem with the present influx live in affluent communities with good schools insulated from the immediate budgetary consequences of meeting the needs of the offspring of the 11 million here illegally. These wealthier people aren't so much liberal in their tolerance of illegal immigration as they are self-interested and cynical.

In contrast, the far more numerous poor and lower middle classes of America, especially in the Southwest, are sincerely worried — and angry. Indeed, it is no longer possible to caricature opponents of illegal immigration as part of a small nativist fringe.

For the broad middle class, the poor and minorities — people who dine mostly at home, travel infrequently, mow their own lawns and change their children's diapers — inexpensive service labor is not seen as much of a boon to them. Plus, lower- and middle-class Americans live in communities where schools are more impacted by an influx of Spanish-only speakers. And as janitors, maids, groundskeepers, carpenters, factory workers and truckers, they fear competition from lower-wage illegal alien laborers. Legal immigrants who wait years in line to enter the United States legally can be particularly unsympathetic to others who cut in front — in violation of the law. Continued...