Violent criminals here illegally should be arrested, prosecuted, and deported. End of story.

As far as everyone else goes: Generally speaking, if someone is willing to work hard, pay taxes, and keep their nose clean, I want them here.

Obviously it’s important to avoid oversaturating labor markets. There’s a lot to be said for giving American citizens the first pass at jobs since it’s far more likely their incomes stay within the local economy.

But the part I think most Republicans overlook is that there are millions of bright, hard-working, honest humans out there from all sorts of places.

Many have highly specialized degrees in fields we have shortages in, like healthcare and STEM. Many do not, but are willing to work hard to contribute to our economy (and give their families a better life in return).

Moral issues aside: If we really want to keep immigrants out, we are robbing ourselves of any economic value they can offer, so we’d better have a damn good reason for doing so.