A recent AP-Ipsos poll of Americans found that we’re split on the issue of illegal immigrants…. A recent AP-Ipsos poll of Americans found that we’re split on the issue of illegal immigrants. While more than half of the 1,003 adults surveyed – about 56 percent – are in favor of offering illegal immigrants some sort of legal status, the other half isn’t buying it.

And, quite frankly, we’re not sure what to think either. While illegal is, well, illegal, there are so many illegal immigrants in the country – about 11 million – that massive deportation efforts are not realistic, not to mention cost prohibitive.

The real question is whether or not illegal aliens are a drain on our country. Again, Americans are split on this issue, with 51 percent saying that immigrants contribute to society and 42 percent disagreeing.

Immigrants provide employers with a large pool of cheap labor. Some Americans, like 65-year-old Louella Kelly of Texas, argue that these workers are taking jobs away from Americans. Kelly says that her 16-year-old granddaughter is having trouble finding part-time work for this reason.

So we’re supposed to believe that 16-year-old girls are fighting for jobs against 30-year-old Mexican immigrant men? We don’t buy it. Most jobs held by illegal immigrants are labor-intensive and unattractive to even the most desperate of Americans. Some Americans would rather be on welfare than wash dishes for minimum wage 13 hours a day, seven days a week.

It’s embarrassing but true that illegal immigrants keep prices down while doing our dirty work. So is there really an argument against them taking our jobs? Sure it happens, but largely, no.

It’s easy to make immigrants the scapegoat; to most of us they are an abstraction, the people who work behind the scenes. Many times we might not even know they’re there. We can’t fault them for employment practices. Employers seeking to profit from cheap, foreign labor who ignore that they are hiring illegal immigrants are to blame for luring people across the border. When employers stop these practices, the number of illegal immigrations will decrease.

It’s an understatement to say that this problem is complex. The huge population of illegal immigrants in the United States is so intertwined in our society and economy that an outright removal of them would certainly have drastic consequences. Amnesty for the current group of illegal immigrants in question, the ones already here, is the best option for all of us. Legal status, whether temporary or permanent, would entitle workers to minimum wage.

If we want the influx to recede, let’s beef up border patrol. There is nothing to be done about the immigrants that are already here. It’s time for the government to take some preventative action, lock down our borders and set up a system for those already living and working in the United States to receive some sort of official documentation.