The result of the government’s get-tough policies has been imperfect justice at best.

It sounds counterintuitive, but since the failure of comprehensive immigration reform in 2007, the prevailing wisdom in Washington has been that the way to earn public support for allowing this country’s approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship is for the federal government to vigorously prosecute violations of immigration law. Tough enforcement, in other words, will convince Americans that reform is warranted.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-aba22-2010feb22,0,4738167.story