"So the Dems wanted status quo on the felonies while the Pubs wanted to liberalize the current law. Go figure."
WRONG! ... The current law has it that it is not a crime at all, just a civil law infraction.
Making it a felony is wholly impractical, since the correct thing to do with someone here without legal visa is to *deport* them, not jail them, and since you have aright to jury trial ... okay, so 11 million jury trials?!?! I dont think so. This is better handled in a deportation proceeding. Just use the criminal law as a backstop to get police arrest warrants ... and a misdemeanor is enough for that.
Thanks. The article is badly written and leads one to think otherwise.