Every political movement picks up a little lint along the way, and the conservative movement has a pesky problem on the issue of immigration. It’s a strange stance for a movement that rejects big government, with all its rules, forms, procedures and restrictions.

Then again, maybe it’s just that Hispanics and Latinos are historically more likely to vote Democratic.

Whatever the reason, the right’s knee-jerk opposition to sensible immigration reform finds the troops up in arms about the Dream Act – a measure that would provide a path to citizenship for illegals who were brought here as kids by their parents.

The usual conservative objection to any path to citizenship for illegals is that it rewards lawbreaking. You can hardly apply that argument to people who came here as kids because their parents dragged them across the border.

And we’re not talking about blanket amnesty for everyone of a certain age. Citizenship via Dream Act provisions only applies to people who are currently under 35, who have lived here since before the age of 16, and who agree to either attend two years of college or serve in the military two years.

In other words, demonstrate that you’re an upstanding member of society and that you’re serious about being a good citizen.

What possible objection could conservatives have to this? These people aren’t about to be rounded up and deported, regardless of whether the Dream Act passes or not. Do you want them hanging out in the streets and dealing drugs? Or do you want them in college or in uniform?

The Center for Immigration Studies believes that the Dream Act will cost over $6 billion when you include possible public subsidies for their tuition – assuming a large percentage of them are poor. So what would it cost society – again, assuming they’re poor – to have them hanging around draining the resources of society without producing anything? If they go to college or join the military, they’re a lot less likely to present that problem.

Conservative orthodoxy on immigration is twisted like a pretzel. You’d think conservatives would celebrate people’s desire to become Americans. They claim they just want immigrants to follow the rules.

Really? Since when do conservatives reflect dreamily on people filling out forms and paying fees to the federal government? Sneaking across the border in the dead of night is as anti-establishment as Ronald Reagan himself.

All of the ancillary problems that go along with illegal immigration can be handled via sensible policies we should have on the books anyway. Don’t like illegals getting welfare and driver’s licenses? I agree. Require legal status, if not outright citizenship, for any sort of welfare. (Or better yet, get rid of welfare.) Don’t like illegals committing crimes? Solve the previous problem and chances are the would-be criminals don’t even want to come.

But what possible problem could you have with people who came here without having a choice in the matter, and have been here for years, since they were very young, getting a chance to earn citizenship through a serious commitment to doing the right things?

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that conservative apoplexy about illegal immigration is about one thing – politics. They see illegals as prospective Democratic voters, and the last thing they want is a bunch of people suddenly swelling the voter rolls and pulling the lever for Democrats in mass numbers.

Well. When George W. Bush ran for re-election in 2004, he got over 40 percent of the Hispanic vote – the best ever for a Republican candidate. That was due in large part to the fact that Bush was not reflexively opposed to sensible immigration reform, and didn’t insist on labeling as “amnesty” that which simply solves an otherwise intractable national problem.

The Dream Act only gives good people a chance to become good Americans. If conservatives are against that, it can only be because they’ve allowed their so-called principles to twist them into intellectual pretzels.

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