For it was a Hobbit hole, and that means Comfort

Yes, 'Path to Citizenship' is pretty interesting, actually - it gets some backing from the democractic side of the aisle by letting more immigrants in and looks a bit earthy crunchy, it lets the industries whose current levels of profitability depend on the current immigrant population get the labor force that they need, and gives Law & Order folks a fig-leaf with which to not prosecute those industries back into the stone age. And, as you point out, it distresses hard-core Nativists, but it also distresses the rather large population of people who feel a visceral sense of anger at people they feel are line-jumping. I don't get that visceral rage, but enough people report it that it has to be addressed, whether that's by discussing other elements of the problem, passing draconian enforcement legislation, or holding our fingers in our ears saying la-la-la-la, I can't really comment, but it needs to be respected and responded to.