[lucysmom]

Citizenship is not a right, but a privilege to be earned by those who demonstrate their agreement to abide by our laws and respect our shared principles of liberty and personal responsibility. It ought not be for sale, especially to those who have already disrespected our laws and who mock our principles.

Does that include the businesses that employ illegals?

[andy58-in-nh]

Absolutely: businesses that employ illegals ought to be penalized for doing so. Remember though, that in the end, business don't really pay fines - or taxes - for that matter. They just pass the costs along to their consumers, or downsize their growth plans.

So there's no sense in punishing business so severely that American consumers are hurt by it. Instead, I think we need to focus on enforcement by policing the borders and applying existing immigration laws. Once we do that we can start thinking about creating a better legal path for people who want to come here, but not until.