[speekinout]

I think I see where we differ. You seem to want to start by targeting the illegal immigrants. I don't see how we can, because we don't know who they are, or where they are. I want to start by targeting the employers. We know who they are and where they are. I don't, however, want to ruin their businesses.

Don't you think that employers who hire illegals are a major part of the problem? After all, if illegals couldn't get jobs here, they would be less likely to try to get here.

[inquest]

My general view as regards employers is that they should in most cases have the right to assume that those whom they hire are here legally. Cracking down too hard on them I think will start to make them look sideways at any Hispanic applicant, and I'm not so sure that's a good thing. But that's not what our main disagreement is about. Regardless of whether or not we engage in employer sanctions, we still should not be encouraging aliens to enter illegally, and that's exactly what happens every time a proposal is floated to give them any kind of legal status.

And bills for border security should be passed without being forced to have guest-worker provisions attached in the same bill.