We cannot let them stay. Debates regarding illegal immigration often focus on policy issues like welfare, healthcare, crime, economic contribution, etc. That is a distraction. Democracy is the real issue. Status quo is that any city or state desirous of greater power can declare a suspension of federal law and import millions of illegal aliens for the purpose of inflating their electoral votes and Congressional representation. Arguments about illegal immigrants voting directly in elections fraudulently usually miss this point. If you offer the political architects of these rebellions a trade, permanent amnesty and residency for all aliens with clear agreement that they cannot be counted for the purposes of electing our President or Congress, they will adamantly refuse. Why? Because the people pushing this do not want immigrants from socially-conservative countries in Latin America to actually vote. They want to vote on their behalf via census representation, much like reconstruction-era Southern states demanded for newly-freed slaves. Their ideal situation is an urban core of deeply aligned ideologues voting with the power of millions of illegal aliens, currently worth dozens of Congressman and eight states worth of electoral votes. There is an effectively unlimited supply of poor people from poor countries that want to live in the United States who can be used to fuel this strategy. Some might be net positive to the US economy, some might not be, but that is beside the point - all would equally contribute to a future where minority rules the majority with no recourse. Rewarding states that refuse to recognize the legitimacy of American law ensures other states will use these same tactics, if only to maintain their own relative power. It will end our republic.