Actually, I think he understands the politics of the problem.
On the one hand, the illegal alien problem is massive and must be dealt with NOW. On the other, any appearance of a pogrom will be devastating to the Republicans at the polls.
The answer is a balance between HARD enforcement at the borders with a mechanism for documentation of LEGAL immigrants, and both should be unveiled simultaneously, or there will be political hell to pay. Any solution should be crafted to avoid a gold rush of new illegals coming in to take advantage of amnesty. So amnesty of any kind has to be avoided.
AFTER the borders are secured and the mechanism for LEGAL immigration is in place, then the illegals already here can be dealt with.
Looks like Fred still doesn't get it when it comes to illegal immigration.
Fred Barnes is a raging mediocrity. On Fox he was cluelessly sanguine and pollyannish on the Miers nomination. Obviously he is out of touch with conservatives. His columns reflect conventional conservative Georgetown babble and are not with the pixels on your monitor.
Then there's immigration, an issue on which the president and his base are at odds. Yet a compromise wouldn't be impossible, if Bush agreed to tougher security on the southern border with double or triple the number of border guards and conservatives agreed to lighten up on illegal immigrants already living in the United States. By avoiding harsh treatment of Mexican immigrants here, Republicans could avert a backlash from Hispanic-Americans, a voting bloc of growing importance.
You must feel that your stance is incredibly weak if you have to resort to misrepresenting the other side.
Of course, you took Fred's comment out of context.