I see it differently. I find it remarkable how people like McCain and Huckabee have changed and nuanced their stated positions on immigration. McCain is now an enforcement first guy and Huckabee wants to send the illegals home [albeit have them processed and readmitted in weeks and days, not years]. The Hillary faux pas on the drivers' license question started her decline in the polls and Sptizer abandoned the program. The Dems derisively call immigration a "wedge issue," because they realize that it transcends partisan politics. They certainly don't want it to be one of the defining issues of the campaign.
The MSM and Dems have tried to confuse the issue lumping in illegal immigration with legal immigration. They are not where the overwhelming majority of Americans are on the issue. The GOP must educate the public on the issue and frame the debate. States and local communities are already dealing with immigration on a daily basis including passing legislation. You can't hide the elephant in the room, i.e., 13 to 20 million illegal aliens and a foreign born population [percentage wise] of the US that will exceed, within a decade, the highest it has ever been in our history. There are almost 40 million foreign born residents of the US, far more than have ever come to this country in terms of absolute numbers. There will be a backlash just as there was in the 1920s. And in many ways the problem today is far worse in terms of the threat to our long term survival as a nation. It is unprecedented.
No matter who is elected won't make the problem go away. You and I have had this discussion before with you accusing me of being a Know-Nothing. Along with entitlement reform, I view our current immigration problem as the two greatest threats to our country. We can handle external threats far more easily than internal ones. We are well on our way to a tipping point, if it already hasn't happened. Demography is destiny.
I have spent hours here on several Sunday threads documenting that the 13-20 million figure commonly used is probably closer to 38 million.
My info comes from former Fed. Prosecutor and US German Marshall Fund scholar on immigration James H. Walsh in the book The Social Contract Volume 17 # 4 (Summer of 2007)
Here is a brief synopsis of some of his work and calculations.:
. "My estimate of 38 million illegal aliens residing in the U.S. I calculated, however, using a conservative annual rate of entry (allowing for deaths and returns to their homeland) of three illegal aliens entering the U.S. for each one apprehended. My estimate includes apprehensions at the Southern Border(by far, the majority),at the Northern border, along the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, and at seaports and airports. Taking the DHS(Dept. of Homeland Security) average of 1.2 million apprehensions per year and multiplying it by 3 comes to 3.6 million illegal entries per year; then multiplying that number by 10 for the 1996-2005 period, my calculations come to 36 million illegal entries into the US. Add to this the approximately 2 million visa overstays during the same period, and the total is 38 million illegal aliens currently in the US." excerpted from a summary of his book by Walsh. Actually Walsh's numbers are very conservative and my be higher since many of the Border Patrol agents he interviewed suggested that those who get caught crossing the border are fare exceeded by those who are not.