Frankly, I think the federal government's failure to defend our borders is not the chief problem (though indeed, it is a problem, especially re terrorism and organized crime). But that act of omission is dwarfed by the acts of COmmission through which the federal government has turned this country into a giant magnet for illegal immigration. The federal government confiscates huge amounts of money from the taxpayers, and then ties the return of a large portion of it to compliance with laws requiring, among other things, that hospitals treat illegal immigrants, and that schools educate the children of illegal immigrants -- just those two items alone impose massive expense on U.S. citizens.
But the most damaging act of commission by the federal government (and damaging in a lot more ways than just the illegal immigration problem) is the mandating of countless expensive worker benefits -- minimum wages, overtime wages, employer contribution to social security, employer burden-of-proof in firing workers (leading to staggering litigation costs for firing useless or trouble-making workers), employer liability for injuries and illness even if caused by the employee's carelessness or substance-impairment or sheer refusal to observe established safety procedures. And hitting from the other side, the federal government continues to rob the working taxpayers in order to fund generous welfare programs covering housing, food, medical care, spending money, and sham "job training" programs, thus removing the incentive for low-level potential workers to work.
An additional problem is the many states and cities which have laws and policies even worse than the federal government's. It's not the federal government's fault that New York City police and emergency services workers and health care workers are prohibited from even asking people about their "immigration status". And then there are the states which mandate that illegal immigrants pay only the discounted in-state tuition at the state colleges. And many states also add to the federal government's pile of burdens imposed on employers by adding yet more from the state level.
All else being equal, the vast majority of employers would prefer to hire citizens and legal non-citizens. But all else is so very, very far from equal, that frankly, any employer in its right mind would prefer to hire illegals. They're the only workers who you can pay what you think they're worth and fire them if you don't need them anymore, or if they're lazy, or if they're perpetually strung out on drugs or alcohol, or if they give you and your other employees the creeps.
To summarize that laundry list, what's needed is to end socialism, because that's the magnet. Eliminate all that garbage, and the flow of illegals would immediately shrink to very manageable proportions.
The one Constitutional amendment directly related to immigration that we do urgently need, is to eliminate the citizenship claim of "anchor babies". Otherwise, any campaigns for Constitutional amendments should focus on eliminating socialism -- a step which would reap huge benefits in many areas, including the illegal immigration problem.
If it were up to corporations and large businesses, the 13th Amendment would be repealed tomorrow.
Slave-labor is the logical extension of the low-wage business these people are after.
These are the philosophical descendents of the same people that ensconced the share-cropping system as part of the South's economy, and presided over the hacienda system even further south.
They are the ones that view migrant farming as an acceptable, even laudable, aspect of American culture.
The idea that eliminating the minimum wage is going to solve this problem is the height of absurdity.