Sounds much like the same argument for IRCA in 1986 which was also a promise of just this once and then we will really take measures to deal with the problem. Within no time, fines against businesses employing illegals became non-existent and illegals were flooding across the border. I have seen no data that would support the argument that border control has improved, in fact, most of the data I have seen would support that it is getting worse. A sane process for guest workers would be to require that applications to participate must originate from the individuals country of origin.
I agree that it would be sane - if they weren't already here. I don't see any way to establish control without, to some extent, their cooperation. The carrot is a work permit; the stick is that after that point (since most will apply for the work permit) the ones who have not applied, possibly because they have criminal records or possibly simply because they think they can get away with it, should be arrested, along with their employers. It will be a much smaller group, and easier to identify because the legal guest workers will have a new, definitive form of ID (I hope with biometric technology). I have a family member in the police in a Western city, and when they arrest someone there, the arrestee's pockets are stuffed with ID cards - some fake, and some genuine, obtained from states with lax standards.
Also, I think it's important to get Mexico to cooperate on criminal matters, on watching its own side of the border, etc. Some arm-twisting is in order, but that would be easier if there is also a carrot for Mexico: a certain number of legal immigrants. I also think we should be billing Mexico for the expenses for the health care and education of their illegal emigrants, but I guess that's beyond the scope of this discussion.
The 1986 amnesty was just that. It was an amnesty, not a guest worker program. Most of the folks who benefitted in New York, btw, were Irish illegals, who had come there in droves because Ireland had a terrible economy at that point. They were literate and skilled and they actually were taking well-paid jobs from Americans.
I think the crucial thing is to get a grip on the problem now and have a plan for dealing with it, not the Clinton approach, which was legalize them all and then hope things will just kind of work themselves out. But of course that was Clinton's approach to everything, the easy way out.
I would take that a step furthur to require that the ones who are currently here illegally are either disqualified, or have to return to their home country and go to the end of the line. And whatever happened to checking immigrants for disease...you know, public safety and all that?