Reply #11: the only long-term solution

[leftofthedial]

is to use American foreign policy to improve conditions in their countries of origin.

I was born and raised near the Mexican border. Illegal workers have always been part of the economy of the region. The problem is now that their numbers have increased by thousands of percent and they have flooded labor markets all over the US, not just primarily in border states. I'm not a fan at all of the militarization of the border or of the current policies toward illegal immigrants. But it is a problem that needs a solution. The only way it will work is to make their lives better where they come from so they don't want or need to come here.