What is the proper feeling that a citizen should have toward his country? The classical answer is “piety,” an old Roman word that combines tender concern with heartfelt gratitude.

In an image that haunts the West from Virgil’s Aeneid, the hero Aeneas carries his aged father to safety on his back from the ruins of burning Troy. Aeneas now carries the man who once carried him, when he was weak and vulnerable. Thus, those of us who have grown strong in the safety and opportunity of an orderly, prosperous country owe a debt to that country in turn, one which we cannot pay back but forward — to the next generation of Americans, and the vulnerable now among us.

What we must offer them is what we enjoyed: an equally wholesome environment in which to live. For their sake we must see to it that America grows and prospers in all the critical virtues: freedom, safety, opportunity and rule of law. Such virtues don’t grow on trees, but in the long-tilled soil of a nation whose founders and pioneers jealously guarded their individual rights and dignity as images of God.

All these goods are threatened today, to one degree or another, for millions of people in America. They are jeopardized by weak politicians and crass businessmen, by leaders of ethnic lobbies and native-born demagogues, and as always it is the vulnerable who suffer the most.

Americans know well that the situation on our borders is dangerous and unsustainable, and they are looking for solutions. In fact, they are broadly at one on the final outcome that they are seeking: An imposition of order where there is chaos, of justice where there is corruption, and the fair, compassionate enforcement of reasonable laws.

We want the U.S. to control the influx of newcomers to accord with the common good — supporting America’s economic growth and sustaining its innovation. We want to drain out the poison from the immigration issue, to heal this festering wound on the body politic and assuage the growing bitterness that has begun to divide our people.

We want to stop the mass exploitation of illegal migrants in America and take back control of our southern border from narco-traffickers and people smugglers. We must remove the constant downward pressure on working class American wages exerted by desperate Indios, who flee countries like Mexico where structural injustices offer them no opportunities at home. To support their families, these exiles will work outside the law, in dangerous conditions, at criminally low pay.

We want to resolve the situations of more than 10 million people who live trapped in an underground economy devoid of any worker protections, while respecting the sovereignty of America as a whole.

Most Americans agree on what concrete steps need to be taken to reach these crucial goals.

1. We must secure America’s borders. Whether that means a physical fence or enhanced patrols, or a combination of those with other means, we cannot leave America’s doors and windows unlocked. Nor can we rely on stretches of “impassible” desert to deter potential immigrants with the threat of an agonizing death. It is a legal, moral and humanitarian necessity that the U.S. secure the means of entry to the country.
2. We must stop employers who exploit vulnerable migrant workers, by making databases such a e-Verify not just universal, but mandatory. Furthermore, serious penalties must be applied to business owners who routinely violate labor laws by exploiting migrants — not just fines, but prison time.
3. Those who enter our country on tourist or student visas — like most of the 9/11 hijackers — must not be permitted to outstay their legal welcome. Those who do must be swiftly located and returned home.
4. Those who sponsor a legal immigrant must be held legally liable for their promise that those whom they sponsor will not become a “public charge” dependent on welfare programs. Such a promise should be given legal teeth, and enforced along the lines of legally-mandated child support.

Measures like these would help to establish peace and order on both sides of the U.S.’s southern border — and protect immigrants themselves, who suffer at the hands of the organized criminals currently profiting from America’s lax enforcement of its borders. We would see no more “rape trees” festooned with the torn clothes of female migrants, abused by the coyotes whom they trusted to convey them into America. Such laws would raise the wages of less-skilled American workers, removing the cheap recourse to easily-exploited migrants. This would help ease people off the welfare rolls and into the labor force, allowing young people to develop essential work habits, and mature into responsible parents and citizens.

Once such measures are in place, and fully enforced, Americans who are deeply concerned by today’s immigration chaos would respond with this country’s customary generosity and openness. At that point, but only at that point, we should explore a path to citizenship for those who came here illegally, but have not committed any other serious crimes (such as identity theft). To talk of amnesty before the border is secured and made safe would encourage another dangerous mass influx of desperate migrants, such as we saw in 2014.

Millions of people have lived here for many years, raised citizen children, paid sales tax (fattening the bottom lines of unscrupulous employers) and are, in many ways, already Americans. They have the potential to become patriotic, law-abiding citizens. Voters are likely to recognize this, and talk of mass deportation will fade away, once order has been restored and the laws are being enforced in the interests of justice and national security. But not until then.

Those of us who, like most Americans, are concerned for the best interests of immigrants and low-wage workers in America should get behind a solid plan for border order and labor justice — like the one briefly outlined here. Because it respects the common good and legitimate interests of Americans, and honors their pious love for this great country, such an initiative will drain away the bitterness and restore the sweetness of reason to the immigration debate. It is the best path to virtuous, grateful citizenship for us all.