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Many people pride themselves on perceiving "nuance" where none exists. They boast of being perplexed and confounded by every issue that waltzes into the public square. The perpetually baffled sneer at the "simplistic" solutions of those who, in possession of common sense, quickly differentiate between right and wrong -- even without the benefit of congressional hearings, study commissions and task forces.

The N.C. State Board of Community Colleges, for example, finds itself in a state of paralysis over a question that strikes most of us as fairly simple: That is, should illegal immigrants be permitted to attend community college? The board, having flip-flopped on the matter, has asked a Virginia firm, JBL Associates, to undertake a study and file a report.

Is the issue really so complicated? Perhaps an analogy will be instructive: If an intruder were to break into your home in the middle of the night, would you call a family meeting to discuss with your wife and children whether the uninvited guest should be allowed to shower and sleep in the guest bedroom? Would you establish a task force to evaluate whether the invader should be invited to stay for breakfast, or whether you should offer him the keys to the family minivan?

If you were an elected official, you just might. The status quo -- mass immigration and apathy toward assimilation -- is not only an abandonment of common sense, but also a betrayal of majority will. Opinion polls for years have shown that the majority prefers a reduction in immigration and a renewed dedication to the Americanization of newcomers. Many of our representatives are indifferent to, or contemptuous of, the majority view.

State Sen. Phil Berger is a rarity among elected officials. The Rockingham County Republican not only agrees with the majority on immigration, but also has the fortitude to stand up and say so. (His party has been cast into the wilderness, in part, because it conspicuously lacks these characteristics.) Berger has filed a bill (S 155) that would require community college students to be legal U.S. residents.

The term "illegal," Berger responded via e-mail, "should mean something, and there should not be a benefit conferred on someone here illegally."

Sometimes, questions of public policy are just that simple. No hand-wringing, no wavering. Respect for the law and the application of common sense will often suffice.

Community college admissions policies are merely one skirmish in what promises to be a grueling, decades-long struggle over questions of immigration and culture. Between 1990 and 2006, Greensboro's Hispanic population increased dramatically, from 1,765 to 16,586. Of course, many newcomers are illegal aliens. In 2007, there were an estimated 400,000 "undocumented workers" in North Carolina. Our new arrivals are overwhelmingly Mexican, Spanish-speaking and unskilled. It is folly to believe that such a seismic demographic shift will present no challenges.

We have complicated the matter by abandoning the assimilation ethic. Rather than teaching newcomers our language and traditions, we teach Spanish to the native-born; rather than teaching immigrants American history and civics, we "celebrate diversity" with the study of languages and customs alien to our own.

"English-only" policies, Berger writes, "would be a great help" in swinging the pendulum back toward Americanization.

The traditional assimilation ethic, News & Record reporter Jason Hardin wrote three months ago, "has helped the United States avoid the dangerous divides found in some other countries, where huge immigrant communities exist almost completely separately from the societies they inhabit." Greensboro is increasingly fractured by such cultural and linguistic enclaves.

Current trends, Sen. Berger writes, could result in a "loss of national identity. We are increasingly 'Balkanized' by the prevalence of hyphenated Americans. We allow ourselves to be identified by where we came from instead of where we are and where we expect our children to be in the future."

The aforementioned article by Hardin contains evidence of confusion among immigrants in regard to national identity: The owner of a Greensboro business that caters to Spanish-speaking newcomers was quoted as saying, "Hispanics know I'm someone with the same language, the same culture. I'm Mexican, I know my people." She identifies more strongly with where she came from than where she is. Regrettably, such misplaced allegiance is not uncommon. A line in the sand is long overdue.

Presumably, illegal immigrants would like to attend community college in order to qualify for better jobs. Yet, employing illegals is prohibited by law. Therefore, we must either enforce immigration and employment laws or compound the error of our ways with selective law enforcement. Let us not create nuance where none exists.

 Charles Davenport Jr. (daisha99@msn.com) is a freelance columnist who appears alternate Sundays in the News & Record.