Hungry Ojos said:
Why does length of the crime matter? A bunch of you are saying "well, if they've been here ten or twenty years, they should stay."
Why? Logically, that is ridiculous. They broke the law to get here, just like the recent influx of people who have come here.
Do we also say "well, if the murder you committed was ten years ago, we'll let it slide."
From a political perspective, I know that he can't deport maids who have families that have been here for a long time, but from an individual perspective, why are some of you ok with it?
Breaking the law is breaking the law. The law has no purpose if we look away sometimes, but throw the book at others who committed the exact same offense.
Do we also say "well, if the murder you committed was ten years ago, we'll let it slide."
As a quick answer, and admittedly a politically expedient one, even with crimes there's a concept of Statute of Limitations. Maybe not for murder, but definitely for non-felony type of crimes.
If someone is here for an extended period of time, has a clean record, has assimilated into our society and is a productive member, I'm for cutting them a little slack.
Again, there's so much low hanging fruit with the 15+million that have arrived within the last 4 years that I believe that is where our focus should be.