Originally Posted by Cloudless

You're talking about the Registry Date? In 1986 Congress set it to January 1, 1972.

I support legalization for people who are here the day the bill passes into law. However, there are many different shades of being legal. People who have been here for a couple of decades can get permanent residence (green card), those waiting a decade get conditional permanent residence (green card that's good for two years, reneweable based on certain conditions), and the rest get the newly created temporary worker visas. However, there must be a clear path from one status to the next, so if you really contribute positively to American society, you will eventually gain the right to be a citizen.