Immigration is the last thing this is about.
If conservatives really wanted to fix immigration, they could have done so years ago.
Certainly, the broad outlines of a workable overhaul have long been obvious: a combination of hardened border security, a guest-worker program, streamlining the process for immigration and creating a pathway to citizenship for immigrants here illegally.
In fact, President George W. Bush offered a plan roughly along those lines back in 2006.
“I know this is an emotional debate,” he pleaded to his fellow Republicans. “But one thing we cannot lose sight of is that we’re talking about human beings, decent human beings that need to be treated with respect.”
Republican senators were unmoved, and the plan died in Congress.
As for treating immigrants with respect, the GOP has made it a point of pride to do the opposite, from caging them like animals to taking their children away.