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I agree. Allow me to point to two other issues pretty close to conservatives:

1. Gun control. I don't think the laws work, and a number of the ones the gun-controllers want cannot be enforced without serious infringements upon civil liberties (search and seziure, self-incrimination, etc.). They should not be passed, and a fair number of the laws (like the AW ban) should be repealed, with the rest simplified and made to apply uniformly.

2. Environmental laws. Remember all the horror stories from the Clean Water Act (specifically, the wetlands nonsense) and the Endangered Species Act/Marine Mammal Protection Act (which went so far as to cause severe restrictions on military training and the testing of a sonar system)? Congress made changes to the law to end the military's problems, and in effect gave them an exemption.

We are a nation of laws, but if there are bad laws, or misapplications of the law that are causing problems, then they need to be changed, and if necessary, people need to be cut some slack. Respect for the law goes downhill unless bad laws and misapplied laws are dealt with in an expedient fashion, and I've come to the conclusion that immigration law is one place where that needs to be done.

That said, some things need to get tougher. Cities that prohibit local cops from reporting illegal immigrants to the federal government need to be told to change the policy or lose federal funds. No objection to that - heck, why hasn't that been done? We need to tighten control of the borders more so as to prevent future illegal immigration. And we need to kget rid of the welfare programs except for those who are here legally.

I want this issue dealt with, but at this point, I'm more inclined to follow the Wall Street Journal's proposals on this as long as they are coupled with increased security at the border. It's not a perfect solution, but I think it should be good enough.