“Immigration reform will not occur until conservative Republicans, like myself, become part of the solution,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told the United States Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. “I am here today to begin that conversation.”

Paul should be commended for furthering a much-needed conservative conversation on immigration reform. But the core of the proposal he set forth shares the same fatal flaw as past failed immigration efforts: It links the achievement of border security with that of granting status to those currently in the U.S. illegally.