The Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita has long served as a backlot for Hollywood films, but for the last three weeks it has been a live stand-in for America.

Bob Kellar, a city councilman and former mayor, spoke at a rally against unauthorized immigrants where he repeated Theodore Roosevelt's admonition that the United States has a place for only one flag and one language. After some accused Kellar of being racist, he responded that if believing in America causes people to think he is one, then "I'm a proud racist."

His remarks were posted on YouTube and provoked a firestorm on the Web and in Santa Clarita, where a tumultuous town hall meeting last week was marked by opposing protesters, angry speeches and tears. But no apology from Kellar.

A retired Los Angeles police officer, Kellar says he was just trying to make a rhetorical point. His supporters say his critics are too quick to pin the racist label on those who favor deporting the 12 million unauthorized immigrants in the country.

"It seems to me that when the left runs out of any intelligent arguments on the subject, it always falls back on that old canard," John Kriewaldt of Riverton, Wyo., wrote in a letter to the Los Angeles Times. "Give it a rest, already!"

Wrote James Beauchamp of Lancaster, also to the Times: "I wish all councilmen in every city in the country would stand up for the law, as Kellar has. I am white, and my two sons are married to Mexican and Colombian ladies who are in this country legally."

I have no reason not to take Kellar at his word, though he was irresponsible and inflammatory. More fundamentally, he and Santa Clarita represent a dangerous cultural backlash in hundreds of towns across America. And Congress and President Barack Obama are allowing this to fester by continuing to duck immigration reform.

The president says he is committed to taking action this year. But it's still not likely to happen. Obama dedicated one tepid sentence to the issue in his State of the Union address, health care remains unresolved, jobs are center stage and midterm elections loom.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat, submitted a comprehensive reform bill in December that falls barely within the limits of what Obama, President George W. Bush before him and most moderates and nonpartisan policy wonks have seen for a decade as the needed combination of enforcement, temporary worker programs and earned legalization for the unauthorized immigrants now here.

In the Senate, New York Democrat Chuck Schumer, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham and others could release their own, more centrist version any day now, but legislative timing and political timidity holds them back.

There is a show of much-sought bipartisanship ---- only it is on the side of the Bob Kellars. Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz garnered at least 10 Democratic co-sponsors two weeks ago for a proposed House resolution calling for no legalization of the unauthorized.

Hispanic, Asian and other pro-immigrant groups are rightfully angry. The administration continues to successfully tighten enforcement to stop more unauthorized immigrants from coming, but those here are unfairly victimized, too. They came in response to the demand from American businesses. They also create more jobs than they take away, and, with their families, have overwhelmingly built law-abiding lives.

This is hard for many Americans to understand when unemployment is running at 10 percent. But we elect politicians to explain these things.

Meanwhile, Kellar's remarks reflect that we are, at heart, in a cultural war. The large number of legal and illegal immigrants who relocate to towns unused to foreigners have upset the familiar landscapes of many of our lives. The sudden change and demand on local services is threatening.

Teddy Roosevelt may have been right for his day, but the sentiment behind his remarks is wrong now. Repeated studies, however, show that today's immigrants and their children learn English, uphold the flag and become culturally American just like the earlier waves did.

Bob Kellar might remember that he lives in a town with a Spanish heritage and name in honor of a 13th-century Italian nun who is venerated by Mexicans for her work with poor women. Yet his solution to a problem is to kick the unauthorized ones out.