There was an interesting moment during an episode of The Sopranos a few weeks back. One character recalled that his immigrant ancestors came from Italy into the United States by way of Canada.

He paused, then added, “They should build a wall these days, though.”

This is a stark example of what you might call immigration schizophrenia: a profound confusion when it comes to one’s personal ethnic history and immigration in general.

Of course, this is not a condition felt solely by Italian Americans. It is something Irish Americans have been struggling with for decades.

Blogger Grant Miller recently circulated the biography of fringe presidential candidate Millie Howard from Ohio. She’d probably take this as a compliment, but Howard’s anti-immigrant platform seems like something straight out of the anti-Irish Know Nothing party.

Funny, then, that Howard chooses to emphasize that her mother “was an American citizen, born to an Irish immigrant mother” on her website.

Now, Millie Howard may not be representative. But given the importance of the immigration question, the schizophrenia is something Irish Americans have to deal with.

At least as far back as the 1930s, social observers noted that certain segments of the Irish immigration community looked down on other immigrants. One memorable scene in James T. Farrell’s famous Studs Lonigan trilogy of novels depicts the main character’s father ranting about how “America should be made into a country for Americans.” This even as he rhapsodizes about visiting “the old country” with his wife before he dies.

I’m not saying that because your great grandparents came over from Cork or Galway you must, automatically, be in favor of open borders. There are legitimate arguments to be made for restricting immigration and cracking down on illegal immigrants.

These arguments are not made by only right-wing conservatives. The labor movement – heavily Irish-American to this day – struggles with this debate over immigration.

The problem is that many arguments against immigration are more emotional than intellectual. They employ nasty language not too different from the kinds used by 19th century nativists.

“They want your job, your property, and your country,” commentator Nicholas Stix wrote in a North Carolina-based publication called The Conservative Voice recently.

Later, he recalls seeing CNN’s Soledad O’Brien interviewing “an Irishman on camera, who demanded legalization and full rights for all illegals – translated into English, that’s amnesty. (Full disclosure: Like O’Brien, I am part Irish.) Someone needs to whisper in O’Brien’s ear that opponents of illegals do not give a damn if a few thousand of them are Irish.”

What Stix and those like him should give a damn about is this – if you take the time to look into and mention your family background, you should understand the difference between a legitimate, and blatantly nativist, argument.

People like Stix and Howard like to say they focus solely on illegal immigrants. That’s a very thorny issue when it comes to Irish immigration from the 1840s to the 1920s.

At the very least, it’s a topic that needs more research. How many Irish immigrants were illegal during the 19th and early 20th centuries?

According to some people I asked, a significant number were. Peter Quinn, most recently the author of Looking for Jimmy: A search for Irish America , noted that many Irish illegally “crossed the border” as Mexicans do today, only from Canada.

Finally, consider the intense debate that exploded last week when New York City officials announced they planned to open a public school that concentrates on aspects of Arab culture. At least part of the opposition to the idea, I would argue, was based on the fact that “those people” are unwanted immigrants loyal to foreign lands.

Which, of course, is exactly what was said in the 1840s, when Irish immigrants battled Protestant school officials. This led to the creation of America’s separate Catholic schools system.

Interesting, then, to read the headline in the spring 2007 issue of the respected conservative publication City Journal: “Save the Catholic Schools.”

It turned out that these “foreign” schools had a lot to offer. Irish Americans should at least consider giving today’s immigrants – legal or not – the same opportunities as their (legal or not) ancestors.