I'm afraid you are in for a real eye-opener. Try across the board amnesty for any illegal in the US. It was done in '86...no fines, no waiting in lines, nothing....sign the dotted line and become an American. Neither Bush nor McCain would go for that. With the Dems, it will be a done deal, and we might not even have the votes to filibuster.
Hillary is courting the Hispanic vote to help defeat Obama...if she gets in we are screwed.
And that is why I can’t stand the fawning over Reagan on this board and across conservatism. The guy had some great speeches, excellent one-liners, but what did he do?
Iran Contra? Amnesty? (The same amnesty that, by the way, Duncan Hunter tried to stop.) Star Wars? Military spending increases for wars he never fought?
With McCain it's even more of a done deal. Some number of R senators won't want to oppose their president. So it will be harder to filibuster McCain than a Dem.
The 1986 amnesty act did not grant automatic amnesty to everyone who applied. You had to pay application fees, have a background check [three misdemeanors or a felony excluded you], learn English, have a physical, register for the draft, etc. Read the bill. I have read both the 2006 amnesty bill that passed the senate [S. 2611] and the McCain-Kennedy bill that got shot down. It is remarkable how much of the language is similar to the 1986 act, probably written by same immigration lawyers.
The McCain-Kennedy bill granted legal status to everyone who applied after just a 24 hour period based on a quick background check. It even allowed absconders to stay despite the fact they had already been thru the entire legal process and were ordered deported. McCain, Kennedy, Obama, and Hillary all hold the same position on amnesty, which is why they all voted together on both the 2006 and 2007 bills.
Undeniably Amnesty: The Cornerstone of the Senate's Immigration Proposal