At Redstate, Leon Wolf has this post that makes a similar argument to one I tried to make this weekend, far more eloquently than I was able to:
Illegal immigration is one of those issues that I tend to deal with in terms of uncomfortable silence and avoidance. The reason for this is fairly simple: I’m well to the left of most of my conservative colleagues on this issue, and I frankly don’t see it as an issue that I’m ready to provoke a fight over. However, like most other fights I try to avoid, I am not naive enough to believe that the confrontation is not inevitable.[...]
[W]hat is to be done?
First, the Sensenbrenner proposal, or something like it, should be passed. Regardless of the perceived political sensibilities involved, anyone who does not support a very conventional method for enforcing an existing law is not arguing in good faith, and surrenders the right (in my book) to have their arguments taken seriously.
Second, the immigration process needs reform. There would be no such thing as illegal immigration if the demand for jobs did not exist. I have heard hundreds of nightmare stories about what it is like trying to get a work Visa approved, even if there is a definite employer lined up on the other side of the border. The legal immigration system has become so congested and inefficient that would-be workers are strongly disincentivized from attempting to navigate it at all. If the jobs are there, and the workers are there, the red tape should be significantly cut down, for the benefit of both the worker and the employer, and the economy in general. With a strong border protection plan in place, and a truly efficient system for facilitating necessary legal immigration, would-be illegal immigrants will have insufficient motive to try a genuinely risky maneuver for a job that is probably not there.
Third, we need to come to realistic terms with the millions of illegal immigrants who are already in this country. Let’s cut loose of the fantasy wherein the storm troopers march through the barrio from dwelling to dwelling, demanding to see papers from everyone who has brown skin.[...]