It’s true that if you look at their overall voting records, Boehner and Blunt haven’t been all that far apart on immigration. But Boehner’s response to the Washington Times story makes it clear how he appears to have “grown” in office, at least with regard to immigration: By opposing the online verification system that is the only way legitimate employers can identify illegal aliens, Boehner is ipso facto in favor of illegal immigration, because no amount of border control, on its own, can stop illegal immigration. Nor would a guestworker program have even a remote chance of succeeding without a functioning, secure verification program. So his support for the deportation of DUIs and the rest is just a song and dance obscuring his defense of the status quo.