Can we agree on something? Immigration reform?

[whell]

While the media reported that Eric Cantor's recent primary defeat was largely over immigration and orchestrated by the "anti immigration tea party", one polling result was particularly striking:

72% of voters in Cantor's district support the bipartisan immigration reform legislation on the table in Washington right now to only 23% who are opposed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert...b_5483916.html

After reading that, I wanted to confirm how the poll defined "immigration reform". So, here's the way the poll asked the question:

There is bipartisan immigration reform legislation being debated in Washington. The bill would secure our borders, block employers from hiring undocumented immigrants, and make sure that undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. with no criminal record register for legal status. If a long list of requirements is met over more than a decade, it provides eligibility for a path to citizenship. Would you support or oppose this proposal?

http://www.americansunitedforchange....sults61114.pdf

Now, the way that question is asked, if I were participating in that poll, I would have been in the 32% that "somewhat supported it". The only part that I don't support, and most conservatives that I speak to don't support, is the "path to citizenship" part.

I don't believe that individuals entering this country illegally should be entitled to the benefits if citizenship. I would be in favor of a pathway to "legal status" that would allow these individuals to remain in the US conditionally. I think most conservatives would agree on this.

Here's the Democrat plan for immigration reform: http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/...63R5HP20100430. I agree with it, for the most part, with the exception of the "pathway to citizenship" piece.

My other issue is trusting that the government will enforce any agreement on immigration reform. We already have laws that are meant to control immigration that are being actively "ignored" (according to ICE officers and a Federal Judge in Texas). I also, for example, agree with the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers that the current flood of Central American refugees across our southern borders is no accident or coincidence, but it being orchestrated, possibly with the assistance of US authorities. (but that may be grist for another thread).

Anyway, two questions:

Is there agreement in this forum at all on what the components or basic principles of immigration reform should look like (I've articulated my thoughts above)?

Are there objective principles / measures of enforcement that we can agree on, and then in turn hold our elected officials and government entities accountable to?