Ruben Navarrette Unimpressed With The GOP

Legal status would do, but there is no assurance of getting that:

In the preamble, there is the absurd claim that immigration laws "are not being enforced."

Really? With President Barack Obama and the Department of Homeland Security on track to have deported 3.5 million people by the time Obama leaves office, how much more enforcement would Boehner and other Republicans like? Unless, of course, their goal is to remove every single illegal immigrant from the United States — all 11 million — and anything less than that signals a lack of resolve. If so, good luck reaching that goal.

Also, Republicans declare that border security and interior enforcement must come first.

...Massey notes that the walls and fences we've built in the last 20 years have made it more difficult for undocumented immigrants in the United States to return to Mexico even for a visit because they're afraid that it will be too difficult to re-enter. So they stay put on this side of the border, where they start families and put down roots.

...As for what we should do with illegal immigrants who are already here, the Republicans hit the sweet spot by offering what the undocumented really want (legal status) without bothering with what many of them don't care about (citizenship).

For so-called "dreamers" — young people brought here by their parents — Republicans do even better by offering a path to legal residence and citizenship if they join the military or get a college degree. Sound familiar? It's the DREAM Act that the majority of Republicans voted against in 2010. Now the GOP leaders are onboard.

Or are they?