About the only thing Mitt Romney said during his 2012 campaign that convinced me to hold my nose and vote for him (instead of just staying home or voting for a 3d party no-name) was his very reasonable suggestion that we can make life so difficult for illegals (denial of social services) that they're self-deport.
Unfortunately, that proved about as sincere as the rest of his feeble attempts at sounding right of center. Once he lost, Romney and his team were all aboard the amnesty (oh, sorry, "path to citizenship") express.
The strategy of encouraging self deportation through enforcement is the right strategy. Romney wasn’t serious about doing it.
We need to find someone who will.