"Give current illegals a path to permanent residency and levy a fine of $5000 per illegal applying."
No fricking way. If the criminals in D.C. ever again decide to put criminal invaders in line for lawful residency in front of law abiding immigrants, I'll be the first to start a revolution.
Let us take two brothers for example, Jose and Jesus. Jose pays somebody $2000 to smuggle him over the border and enters our country in violation of our laws. Jesus believes in obeying laws, and would undoubtedly be a more desirable candidate for citizenship. Jesus applies for lawful immigration the same day Jose breaks into the country.
Any damn lover of crime who tries to put Jose in line ahead of Jesus is also trying to destroy whatever legitimacy our feral, er, federal, government can still claim to hold.