President Bush is expected tonight to address the country to build support for new laws on immigration that would create provisions for additional border security, a new guest worker program and eventual citizenship for many of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country. His chances of success seem to have grown over the weeks since immigration reform was last debated in the Senate.

Perhaps the weather improved in Washington between April and May, but the difference between the overheated fighting last month compared with the quieter talks this time has been dramatic. It began with the May 1 “Day Without Immigrants,” which showed America a classic example of peaceful political action by a minority.

Just as American women marched and protested in the 1800s and early 1900s to get the right to vote and African Americans marched and protested – and boycotted bus systems and restaurants – to break a system of economic and cultural discrimination, undocumented immigrants now have done it. The reaction was not entirely positive nor entirely effective, but it was substantial and Congress could not deny that they perform a vital role in the nation’s economy.

The immigrants who created the United States could have slammed the door and erected physical barriers to keep out further newcomers. Instead, they accommodated waves of immigrants who enriched the national economy and culture and helped build today’s great country.

Opponents persist in spreading ugly myths about the immigrants – that they are nothing but a horde of criminals and freeloaders. The opponents scoff at immigrants’ demands for “rights,” arguing that those who entered illegally have no rights at all.

Legally or illegally, millions of foreigners have taken root in this country, supplying demands for labor, creating new markets for goods and services, paying taxes and raising their families alongside those of us earlier immigrants. They are part of the system, and they and their children will eventually strengthen the system.

Their demonstrations should override the fears of those who would drive them out. Congress should want control of the borders but also want to regularize what has already happened, accept immigration as a benefit rather than just a liability, and provide a pathway to full citizenship in a nation that needs them and should welcome them. The president offers a way to do that.