"Earned amnesty?" The illegals are laughing! They broke the law to get in here in the first place--there's no real-world incentive to make them obey the law to become citizens. They'll just keep screaming "Gimme!" until they're given citizenship with no strings attached. This is an invasion, plain and simple, and the government doesn't care.
Whether you like it or not, Vlad, we have to deal with these people. There is a difference between how the two parties are going to approach the problem...neither party is going to go deport all 11 million.
Here's how I see the difference:
The Democrats are going to bust their butts to make them legal voters asap...Bush wants them to earn citizenship and make citizenship worthwhile to them--something I believe makes people appreciate their status. And, over time, that earned citizenship is more likely to produce better citizens. And better citizens means, in all likelihood, conservative voters.
The instant amnesty idea the Democrats are likely to push will cause a "handout" mentality to take even deeper root--and turn the illegal aliens into Democrat voters for a generation or more. I think that would be a tragedy for America and for those people.