President Obama and the Democrats have made clear that their “path to citizenship” for illegal immigrants should be as direct as possible. Many Republicans are not sure they want any such path. Those who do, like Senator John McCain, call for “a long and arduous process.” His fellow Arizona senator Jeff Flake agrees: “As more people learn of all these requirements that are put in place—back taxes, pay a fine, learn English not just for citizenship, to get your green card—and learn that it’s going to take a while, they’ll be more comfortable with this path.” Yet the longer and more arduous this path, and the more twists and turns it involves, the less effective it will be in reassuring Americans that illegal immigrants aren’t being given an unfair advantage.

Republican lawmakers are appropriately attentive to such anxieties, but in the aftermath of the November elections, they are also straining to be fair to millions of undocumented immigrants, who came here, after all, because other Americans wanted to hire them. To negotiate this minefield, Republicans should consider simpler options that offer prompt relief to the undocumented, while imposing fewer complicated rules and penalties that necessarily get administered by government bureaucracies in which so many Americans justifiably lack confidence.