Please tell me Mitt answered “Yes”.
He said that if employers are caught doing it, they will have to pay heavy fines, equivalent to the fines for not paying taxes.
Mitt said he supports citizenship eventually for illegals after they go home and rub their tummys, or something.
sigh.
Well, he was not so nuts as to say first offenders should be jailed. He doesn't want them executed either. He wants to have a system where employers can verify status reliably. Then, if we have repeat offenders, he wants more severe punishment and I don't think he ruled out prison sentences in some cases, but I can't swear to that having gone to refill my coffee cup.
After Mitt said no, Russert said something like, “Well if you want to stop illegal immigration, wouldn’t you want the employers them to serve jail time?”