Ron - You seem to want to divide the political factions into restrictionist and non-restrictionists, but there are a whole lot of other factors in play.

                Dorgan, for instance, is against legalizing a bunch of aliens because he feels it would hurt labor, which is also a major part of the Democratic party. Boxer was with him for a while, and you won't find a more liberal Democrat than Boxer.

                I agree that Democrats, unless they do something really stupid, should find themselves in control of both Congress and the White House after the next election, but a number of other things are going on.

               Do you think political operatives are going to move to legalize a bunch of aliens if the country is in a recession? That happens after almost every war, and Iraq can't go on forever.

               Technology is rapidly replacing unskilled labor, and the only reason it hasn't done so faster is the illigals have driven the value of labor so low, normal automation hasn't been allowed to take place.

               In addition to that, in the last round of the failed Senate bill, pressure was put on Congress to allow more highly skilled workers in, and cut back on unskilled workers. These people are not going to abandon their efforts.

               Couple all of that with more Protestant leanings and continued secularization in Catholic countries, which makes both the driving force, overpopulation, and the magnetic draw of jobs in North America work against continued immigration. If we can hold them off a little bit longer, I think, most of their motivation for coming here will go away, and they'll finally get to the task of fixing things in their own countries.

                None of that takes into account the growing realization of the environmental community that continued immigration is a really bad thing. I think you're trying to apply a 19th century model to a 21st century reality.