If you have never exceeded the speed limit, did a rolling stop at a stop sign, went through a traffic light when you know you should have stopped, then get back on your soap box and continue pontificating.
The point is to solve the problem. Amnesty was granted to draft dodgers who fled to Canada to avoid the draft in the 60's. There were many emotional outbreaks against it. I personally did not approve of it. It solved the problem though and was soon forgotten.
Amnesty has been granted to tax evaders, holders of unpaid tickets, by libraries for books overdue and video stores to get movies back. It is a tool to be used wisely to help solve problems. By itself it generally does not solve a problem, only delays or masks the effects as Reagan demonstrated with amnesty in the 80's. If used as an element of an overall plan to solve a problem, it can be quite effective.
One simple fact that pontificators seem to ignore is that it will cost at least 10x (more likely closer to 30x) as much money to round up and deport illegals than to register and legalize them. That's yours and my money, over and above what illegal immigration has already cost us.
I don't believe that for a second.
Have you got some hard numbers to back that up?
The laws and systems are already in place for rounding up and deporting, I'm not sure if the amnesty thing wouldn't result in yet another layer of bureaucracy in our already bloated gov't.
And if they are legalized, do you really think that they are suddenly going to get off welfare and stop using emergency rooms for cold symptoms? I don't.