One of the reasons I put Harrisonburg, Virginia, on my list of cities to visit this election campaign is because it has been a refugee settlement area for over 20 years and I expected this to be controversial.

But when I was there, I discovered something different and rare: there was a near consensus that not only did the system work, but that the residents were proud of it.

The first Republican I asked about the program has lived locally for decades, is a huge fan of Governor Glenn Youngkin, and has hired some of the refugees over the years.

IN A SMALL TOWN, CRITICS AND SUPPORTERS ALIKE ARE ASKING: WHO IS KAMALA HARRIS?

“It’s well organized,” she told me. “It’s a process. First temporary housing, then a job, then more permanent housing, and these people become good members of the community.”

Jeff, who organizes music events in the area, agreed. He graduated from Harrisonburg High School in the 1980s and moved back after several decades in Hawaii.

Left: Vice President Kamala Harris. Right: Former President Donald Trump. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

“When I took my daughter to high school, there were about a hundred flags in the cafeteria, representing every language spoken at the school,” he told me.

When I suggested that this must be a strain on local resources, Jeff acknowledged this but said, “It’s all planned, nothing happens without a plan.”

Another man I spoke to, this time a Kamala Harris supporter, agreed. “We’re proud of it,” he told me.

It is important to understand that Harrisonburg has largely taken in people who fit the traditional definition of refugee, including many from Iraq and Afghanistan. They were fleeing war, not economic refugees, falsely labeled as asylum seekers by the Biden administration.

Harrisonburg’s attitude toward its role as a sanctuary for immigrants reveals an important nuance in the angry and often heated debates about immigration and the border. Very few people are strongly opposed to immigration. Even Donald Trump extols the virtues of new arrivals when done right.

The New Bridges Immigrant Resource Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia, primarily serves refugees from Afghanistan and other areas where asylum seekers face dangers. (David Marcus/Fox News Digital)

I also saw this attitude in Del Rio, Texas, where the brunt of our broken border system lies. Not only were many of the border agents I spoke with of Mexican descent, they also told me openly that their parents or grandparents had entered illegally. They don’t hate illegal immigrants, they just want a clear system that they can enforce.

American voters, by and large, are not anti-immigration. They are frustrated with an immigration system that simply pushes people off a bus in New York or elsewhere, puts them in a hotel and says, “Figure this out.”

They also recognize the danger of an immigration system that creates isolated communities that lead to balkanization rather than assimilation. In Harrisonburg and places like it, the good old melting pot is still bubbling.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE OPINIONS FROM FOX NEWS

And therein lies an opportunity for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, if either of them wants to take advantage of it. A positive argument for orderly, legal immigration, even at relatively high levels, is a widely popular and unifying policy.

Trump can score points by correctly stating that the open border policy under Biden and Harris was a debacle. Harris can win votes by calling Trump and his supporters anti-immigrant racists. But with positive and practical immigration solutions, both can reach a much broader constituency.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Americans are good people who welcome others. They want to help. They want our country to remain the shining city on the hill, but they want it to be done in a well-organized way. As Jeff put it to me, “Are we really helping these illegal immigrants if we don’t have a system in place? Or are we setting them up to fail?”

In a country as divided as ours, it’s important to pay attention when people on both sides agree on an issue. I didn’t expect to find that in Harrisonburg, but as always, our country is full of wonderful surprises.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM DAVID MARCUS