In a letter elsewhere on this page, restaurant owner Heidi Rittenhouse is right. After Johnston Sheriff Steve Bizzell disparaged an entire ethnic group, at least we’re talking about immigration in this county. Problem is, we’re no better at compromise than those Washington politicians we criticize for failing to reform immigration.

In the past two weeks, we’ve heard the gamut of the immigration debate. At one end are those folks who want to round up all the illegals and send them home after this country completes that wall along its southern border. At the other end are those folks who would grant amnesty to illegals, partly because they think it’s wrong to separate parents from children born in this country. In between? Johnston County residents can’t seem to find the in between. We’re inclined to take our positions and hold stubbornly to them.

Personally, we’d liked to see this country’s immigration quotas recognize the real need for imported labor, both at the low end and the high end of the skill spectrum. Until recently, our jobless numbers weren’t all that high, and they’re still not too bad. That suggests our economy can accommodate those folks spilling across the border to work in the United States. And yet this country maintains immigration quotas that fail to acknowledge that reality. That doesn’t excuse the behavior of people who enter this country illegally. But it’s obvious that fewer people would break the law if we set realistic quotas for the labor needed to build houses, harvest timber, maintain lawns, clean hotel rooms, etc.

We’re certain that all Johnstonians, including those here illegally, would like for everyone in this county to be a legal resident of this country. But we can’t agree on how to get ourselves out of our current mess, so we shouldn’t be surprised when our elected leaders in Washington can’t agree either.