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I haven't really paid any attention to the specifics in the law bouncing around since I know it will change quite a bit before anything passes.
I'm very pro-legal immigration and strongly anti-illegal immigration. I believe that national quotas should be abolished and that the only limits on ability to enter the country and begin the process of citizenship is documentary evidence that the immigrant won't immediately be a burden on social safety nets (that is, they have to have a job waiting for them and a citizen sponsor). I think work visas should be widely available that would allow workers to legally enter, pay less taxes (but still some) and then go home when the visa is up.
I think enforcement has to be strict and unflinching. This creates touching stories of families caught in binds. But so what. Employers should also face severe penalties for hiring undocumented workers and this should be true in all industries (including agricultural and restaurantial). If this means that I pay 400% more for lettuce then so be it. If the government wants to keep lettuce cheap, exempt the industry from minimum wage laws and enforce legal employment rather than creating a black labor market.
I think that in any new structure it is a needed component that illegal residents currently in the country will find it more difficult to get on the legal track than for potential immigrants outside of the country. This will encourage them to either leave and return legally or be penalized for having broken the law in the first place.
I also find the phrase "seeking to criminalize illegal aliens" to be an incredibly stupid one. Also, I hate people who pronounce "illegal" as "e-legal." I'm pretty sure e-legal is a lawyer referral Web site. This linguistic intolerance is unusual for me since I don't care about "nukular" or "febuary" or "libary" but it makes me want to kick a reporter every time I hear "elegal." Even if it wasn't said by a reporter.
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