Rove is enough of a practical pol that he sees that amnesty is a titanic issue and to be on the wrong side of it is a career killer. I have no doubt his personal sympathies run to open borders but a guy who makes millions telling dopey politicians how to win can’t fight this juggernaut. He sees that he either has to get with the program or be pushed to the curb as irrelevant.
And as such, we should not care about his inner demons, other than to keep an eye on him. No reason to look a gift horse in the mouth. There's no profit in that.
If true, Rove was dragged there by, of all people, Scott Brown.
Brown was dead in the water against Shaheen until he started trashing amnesty.