I still don't know how terrible a path to citizenship is for people who haven't committed crimes. And by crimes I mean violent crimes or sale of illegal drugs (not marijuana). Get them on a path, have them start to pay back taxes, everyone wins. Don't see what's so bad about that.
The argument is that it creates bad precedent for future waves of migration. We reward illegals for bad behavior now and we'll just be doing it every twenty years. I'm all for an easier immigration program to allow these same people the chance to enter the country legally, but I don't see what is solved by just absolving them of their indiscretions.