It's disappointing that otherwise intelligent conservatives can't seem to see the consequences implicit in choosing a short term course of action.
Expel all the illegal immigrants? And where would you find them? Boxed up for easy shipping in the illegal immigrant discount store?
No, if you are promising to find and expel them all, you'll have raid the homes and businesses employing them. Which means you're also barging into all the OTHER homes and businesses to check for them, too. #politics
I see the Deportation Rhetoric similar to the Abortion issue. It is great policy to stump on, and it gets voters motivated. Until you get people elected who want it as a law instead.
the problems are always more useful as problems for conservatives, than actually solving them
We could solve the immigration problem within a couple years if the penalties were on people who hire them instead of the migrants themselves. No one is going to alienate the folks who want their cheap labor.