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Any legislation that allows the lawbreakers to stay and work here, the object of their crime, is amnesty.

I agree with this.

What Rand Paul is proposing is a form of blanket amnesty. He preconditions it with a secure border, which is good. If he also preconditioned it with a federal law requiring photo ID to vote, and proof of citizenship to register, it would be even better.

But allowing millions of people to stay here and harvest the fruits of their lawbreaking is unacceptable. As a bare minimum, we need to be a lot more selective than Rand Paul: no burglars, no street gang members, no prostitutes, no drug addicts, no drug dealers, no welfare queens. No con men or credit card scammers.

They qualify for a path to citizenship only if they've been working or going to college more than they've been collecting government benefits, they've been here at least ten years (perhaps this could be reduced to five years for entrepreneurs, people with high tech job skills, and immediate family members of citizens), and they've never even been arrested for anything other than immigration violations. If the local anti-gang or anti-drug task force identifies them as gang members or drug dealers, they get deported even if they've never been arrested.

The path to citizenship should require that they learn English, continue to stay out of trouble, continue working or going to college, and generally continue being an asset to the community (rather than a liability) for five more years.

And this program should have the two preconditions I mentioned at the top: (A) a secure border, and (B) a federal law requiring photo ID to vote, and proof of citizenship to register. (Don't worry, Reverend Sharpton. If they can't afford the $5.00 fee for a photo ID, all they have to do is bring in proof that they're on food stamps or whatever, and we'll waive the $5.00 fee.)

This is just a suggestion, and a starting point for further discussion, don't tase me bro etc.

Once you start making such exceptions, it becomes a slippery slope. The 1986 amnesty required five years being a resident, less than three misdemeanors, learning English, and paying various fees. The process was rife with fraud with phony document mills located just blocks away from the processing centers. The USG estimated 1 million would apply, but the true number turned out to be 2.7 million.

The proponents of the 1986 amnesty promised that it would be a one time affair never to happen again. It was to be the first and only amnesty. Now 27 years later we have 12 to 20 million or maybe more illegal aliens. We are told this will be the last amnesty. Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

I can't understand what the urgency is to legalize those already here illegally. The best approach is to enforce our existing laws and make this country as unwelcoming as it can be to illegal aliens. Instead, we are offering in-state tuition, food stamps, driver's licenses, etc. and even a backdoor amnesty. Why reward people who thumbed their noses at our laws brazenly flaunting them. They work illegally, commit ID theft, drive illegally, appropriate SSNs, lie on employment applications, evade taxes, etc. Are these the kind of people we want as citizens?

Those are great ideas.

The problem with Rubio and McCain is that they are so desperate for a deal w Dems that they are willing to give in to stuff like citizenship(voting) before negotiations start. And Obama will get the credit for it, they wont.

Another one is ID fraud. How many false IDs did they use here?

I cant tell from what Paul said if he is serious, and the promise of border conditions alone strikes me as lame.

Paul sounds to me like he wants Hispanics to see him as the next compassionate conservative by claiming they are all conservatives who would be insulted if the gub offered them or their kids anything for free.
He is talking to them when he says this.

They are all scared.