[Offering guest-worker status to either group, at the very least, will do nothing at all to reduce border-jumping. Hopefully we can agree on that much.]
No, we don't agree. I think the people we really would like to have here are the ones who would choose a legal way to get here if they could. The problem is that it has been many years since there has been a legal way.
I had to post back a couple of responses in order to establish the right context of the exchange. Just to put things back on track, once again, when I said "either group", I meant either group of illegals (those who come before the guest-worker program is enacted, vs. those who come after), not either group of aliens (legal vs illegal).
So to repeat: offering guest-worker status to illegals - that is, those who've crossed the border without authorization and are now in the U.S. - will do nothing to stem the tide of illegal border-jumping. Do you have any reason for holding otherwise?
I never said that we should offer guest-worker status to people who come here illegally after a guest worker program is in place. I think it's important that we do not.
That's why I think we should have the guest worker program in place before we try to control the border. We need to have a way to know who the ones already here are, and where they work.
Employers who don't register guest workers within a reasonable time (a month or two) should be severely punished if they are found to have undocumented workers. If the only way to get a job is through a guest worker program, illegal immigration will definitely slow down.
Employers were the key to the success of the guest worker programs we had in the past, and I think they are the only way to have a successful program now.