Right now the accepted status quo is that illegal immigrants are tolerated on US territory. It is possible for them to work and live and do everything but vote without any major problems.

The ultimate goal of immigration reform is to make it more difficult for such people to get here and remain here, and in the end, to make it easier for us to deport those people who are here illegally.

It is a can of worms any way we shake it, the only other option is to seal our borders, introduce a National Identity Card system and require every citizen and resident to register their addresses with the local authorities, (which is what a lot of nations do already).