[Lady Lucky]

Exactly! Turn off the tap. Withdraw the benefits, and most illegals will go away. The fed gov should let the states deal with them. No jobs, no housing, no stay.

Those who are now too old to work, and still illegally here, would remain a problem, temporarily. But no Republican candidate is going to get any traction in the campaign by advocating deportation — which the Dems would promptly frame as a humanitarian crisis. Or Holocaust. Or Trail of Tears. Whatever.

We want them gone, but we do not want a PR disaster that gets Obama another four years in the White House.

[MarcCicero]

...But no Republican candidate is going to get any traction in the campaign by advocating deportation — which the Dems would promptly frame as a humanitarian crisis. The Repub would not have to advocate deportation. Simply turn off all benefits and they'll self deport. Strict enforcement of E-Verify and heavy, heavy penalties for employers who hire them, and they'll simply leave. No welfare, no jobs, and they'll self deport.

[achilles2000]

It is exactly the moral cowardice of failing to demand that the law be followed that has allowed this situation to develop.