You laid out your position incredibly well, PK. I don't dispute your recounting of the history of America's illegal immigration. And as with all of your posts, you are unfailingly insightful and polite. I get it how politicians have largely punted on this. They haven't lived up to their oaths of office. I just don't think what you propose is politically viable.

The staggering amount of people who we'd have to deal with would seem to make significant and meaningful deportation incredibly difficult. Could a significant percentage of the existing population be deported over the next five to ten years? I don't know, perhaps, but we'd have to provide far more resources into deportation efforts. Yet even if we did, here's the stumbling block. I could envision innumerable news stories showing "heartless" INS agents uprooting families from lives they've built and communities they've become a part of. I could see an enormous public outcry that would force politicians to swiftly change course. The Democrats won't touch your plan, PK, and I have to believe that most of the GOP wouldn't either as they desperately seek to build bridges with an already alienated and ever-growing Hispanic demographic. A demographic that they need if they ever want to regain the executive branch.

Don't get me wrong, for a whole host of reasons, I firmly believe we need to control our borders a hell of a lot better than we have. And any deal must make this an absolute priority. I get your anger and frustration, and you may well be correct in your assessment of the entitlement costs related to this enormous cohort. Still, I'll go with my original proposal as I hope it provides the best balancing of human decency, political reality, and border security. And shame on me if we're having this same conversation 5, 10, or 15 years from now.

Peter T.