We're looking at the problem from opposite ends of the spectrum. You are focussed on the illegal immigrants only; I think of the employers who aid and abet them. I have a lot of sympathy for business owners who need workers, and can't find them. Many of the illegals have been working for a long time with phony SSNs, and the employers turn a deaf ear, because they don't have a real choice. Most of the employers know, or at least suspect, which of their employees are illegal.
In many areas of the country, illegals fill most of the jobs for hotel and office cleaners; farming; lawn care; meat packing; seafood processing; unskilled construction jobs; etc. The companies that get these contracts are American owned. They depend on a seasonal or otherwise temporary labor force. Many of them use illegals now. They won't stop until they have a legal source of labor.
Those employers would most likely be willing to sponsor current illegals who have proven to be good workers. And if they had a source for legal workers, they wouldn't likely risk hiring more illegals.
If we could (and we can't) deport all of the illegals overnight, what would you suggest to the businesses who depend on their labor?
What I'm focused on is getting the border under control. All I'm interested in knowing right now is if offering guest-worker status to illegals - any illegals - will help to reduce the rate of illegal entry to something more manageable. And if it won't (and I can't see any possible way that it would) then our leaders shouldn't even be discussing it until after we've taken all appropriate measures to properly secure the border. Once we do, then we'll be in a far better position to judge what needs to be done with the illegals remaining in the country. But it's premature to worry about that now. First priority is to choke off the inflow.
Wrong. These companies depend on illegals to turn a profit by not paying payroll taxes and worker's comp payroll premiums.
Cry me a river for these poor poor employers who can't make it in business but for illegal labor practices and screwing other business people trying to act in accordance with the law.