@RangerMC, your attempt to frame this as a right/left question isn't working.  Everyone agrees that Ellis is guilty of a minor civil infraction more than 30 years ago.  The question is whether deportation and the negative effects this will have on his US family fit the crime.  Surely, you understand that the legal system in the US has the flexibility to fit punishment to circumstances, no?  Or, does that practice rub your authoritarian streak the wrong way?