I have not researched all the candidates to know what they propose to do about illegal immigration, but I will tell you that this is what I want and EXPECT of a real conservative Republican candidate.
I want to stop the flow of illegals coming into this country, and I say that as a resident of the border state of Arizona, which is directly affected by the FAILURE of the feds to secure the border. Will a fence do it? A strategically placed fence? Perhaps, if there indeed patrols along it who are, as has already been said, authorized to use FORCE to stop interlopers.
As far as what to do with the ones already here? I want no form of amnesty. I don't care if they have jobs. If they are here illegally they should be deported. Period. There are a lot of, IMO, appeasers, on the right who insist we can't "send them all back." Why not? We wouldn't be doing it "all at once." We would be doing it incrementally, as they are rounded up, just as Joe Arpaio is doing here. Having no penalty and allowing them a "path to citizenship" will only encourage more to come illegally. This is not rocket science, it's common sense, and once we start doing that, then the rest will get the message and self-deport. Problem solved.
And I am not swayed by this horse manure argument about the children of illegals "not being punished for their parents' sins." If you are a child of an illegal, your parents are responsible, and they -- and you -- should be deported back to their own country and not educated and taken care of by our healthcare system. I don't care if you have been here since birth. We've already spent our tax dollars with you ILLEGALLY in our system, and you should not get breaks on college tuition as an ILLEGAL.
/rant