Immigration - what a mess

Unlike many folks, I have sorta' mixed feelings about this mess. I've felt for a long time that we, as a nation, haven't done nearly enough to work with and help develop our neighbor to the south (Mexico). Despite being a largely 3rd world nation and economy they have remained generally an ally and a "good neighbor" to us over the years. On the other hand, something clearly must be done to prevent - or at least slow down - the flood of illegal immigrants from and through our border with Mexico. I thought George Will (excerpt below) encapsulated my generally ambivalent feelings rather well:

Of the estimated at least 11 million illegal immigrants -- a cohort larger than the combined populations of 12 states -- 60 percent have been here at least five years. Most have roots in their communities. Their children born here are U.S. citizens. We are not going to take the draconian police measures necessary to deport 11 million people. They would fill 200,000 buses in a caravan stretching bumper-to-bumper from San Diego to Alaska -- where, by the way, 26,000 Latinos live. And there are no plausible incentives to get the 11 million to board the buses.

Facts, a conservative (John Adams) said, are stubborn things, and regarding immigration, true conservatives take their bearings from facts such as those in the preceding paragraph. Conservatives should want, as the president proposes, a guest worker program to supply what the U.S. economy demands -- immigrant labor for entry-level jobs. Conservatives should favor a policy of encouraging unlimited immigration by educated persons with math, engineering, technology or science skills that America's education system is not sufficiently supplying.

And conservatives should favor reducing illegality by putting illegal immigrants on a path out of society's crevices and into citizenship by paying fines and back taxes and learning English. Faux conservatives absurdly call this price tag on legal status ``amnesty.'' Actually, it would prevent the emergence of a sullen, simmering subculture of the permanently marginalized, akin to the Arab ghettos in France. The House-passed bill, making it a felony to be in the country illegally, would make 11 million people permanently ineligible for legal status. To what end?

As Will stated, we simply must secure our borders better than we are while also making it simpler & easier to (a) enter the country legally and (b) gain citiaenship or permanent residency status (and, to be fair & honest, it would be nice to see more latinos make an honest effort to assimilate into the "American" culture; learn English, for example; so many latino "spokesmen" seem to pooh-pooh the whole "assimilation" idea). Having completely open borders (liberal solution) is stupid and a recipe for disaster; "fortress America" (ultra-conservative solution)is paranoid and self-defeating. Surely we're smart enough to come up with better ideas than what we've heard so far. (I just get so terribly tired of watching our so-called "leaders," be they politicians, pundits, or "experts," grand-standing, race- baiting, pandering to special interests, &/or posturing for the cameras instead of legitimately seeking workable, well-thought out, solutions .)