"A Day Without Immigrants", . . .

It might be discussed, for, as you said, "theater"...'we are working to fix this', etc. Why things don't happen? Because each and every proposal requires endless meetings, vetting, creating rules/regulations/policies, legal wrangling, appointing CEOs, recruiting, hiring, training (yearly, at a minimum), performance monitoring, every year and reporting upward, appeasing the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) already in place for decades and quite powerful (which is why the "off with their heads" as proposed in Congress to look like they are taking action is a joke). Well, that sentence is too long for the English language police, but you get the idea. It takes too much time and effort and money that nobody wants to spend.

Hey, I don't want anybody's crops or business to fail because they can't get Americans to work starting at the bottom of the food chain (no pun intended), and I'm all for legal immigration as long as they want to become American citizens, work, pay taxes, make a better life for themselves. We have a lot of immigrants in this state working the chicken plants, which is stinky, arduous work. I'm pretty sure many are illegal, but Americans don't want that kind of work, would rather take welfare. And if you like and eat chicken at all, know that some of yours has been slaughtered, pulled apart, cleaned by illegals because nobody else will do it. It is a dilemma for sure.

Hmm, I don't think "illegal" immigrants are worried about getting caught doing "illegal" activities. Even in my rural Ohio town, one of our 30 year old hometown police was shot and killed by an illegal immigrant during a routine traffic stop. So while employers are an issue, my guess would be that they aren't seeking actual employment, but rather a life of crime. Perhaps in west coast migration farm lands and border towns, but not areas with a smaller immigrant population. We do have two Mexican restaurants now for the last twenty years and there was an abuse scandal of illegal workers at a small farm a few years back though. So these issues are definitely moving north. The cop murder was when the Mexican restaurants first opened but our community still embraced them and they are the two most popular restaurants in town. Bad people are bad people, good people are good.

Here's a story from the NYTimes, I suppose some feel it's fake news but I still think of it as a solid new source:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/us/california-farmers-backed-trump-but-now-fear-losing-field-workers.html?_r=0

It discusses Cali Farmers that supported Trump then were stung by the speed of his moves on immigration. A farmer in the article said he feared mandatory everify because he knows the game would be over then. Most of the illegals here didn't come to commit non-immigration related crimes. They came to get work. Take away work and they'll leave and few new ones will come.

Would it take some time to implement? Of course, that's the nature of legislation but it addresses a root cause of the problem. It's why governing is hard. Actually fixing problems on a national level isn't trivial or fast. However, squandering $10s of billions on a wall/fence/barrier is futile and does nothing but make some simpletons feel better.

A worker permit program can be created to bring people to the States to pick fruit and gut chickens. It would be orderly, legal and there would be protections for those that come. Again, I suspect no one will want to discuss this at the National level. That's because neither Dem/Rep really want to stop illegal immigration. Both sides want to keep those folks coming to exploit them. Just in different ways.

So I suppose the studies that show immigrants, both legal and illegal commit fewer crimes than "real" Americans are just fake. Do you seriously believe that most illegal immigrants come here to commit crimes?

Source for said studies? Do you mean by % or just raw numbers?

I'm on my phone and can't cut and paste, but if you Google this question- Do immigrants commit more crimes than Americans, you will see the results.

Why is Billy for the safeharboring of illegal immigrants who have committed horrific crimes? Why doesn't he want them deported back?

lol...There has been a agricultural worker visa program in place for decades. It's called an H-2A. There are a couple of hundred thousand foreign Ag workers here legally at any given time. They don't have to pay Social Security or Medicare they will never collect, they are subject to all US Labor laws...they aren't immigrants and aren't exploited and it is orderly and legal. These people come in...work a season, then go home....and come back when there's more work.

An "illegal immigrant" has, by definition, committed a crime.

"Illegal Immigration is a Crime. Each year the Border Patrol apprehends hundreds of thousands of aliens who flagrantly violate our nation's laws by unlawfully crossing U.S. borders. Such illegal entry is a misdemeanor, and, if repeated after being deported, becomes punishable as a felony."
Ref: Federation for American Immigration Reform

Legal immigration has made America what it is today, . . . starting with the Pilgrims.

Nonetheless, in the present times of Islamic Terror worldwide, DonDiego would counsel erring on the safe-side in investigation of immigrant and immigrant-refugees from predominantly Muslim regions of conflict before admitting them into the United States. Just to be safe.

He recognizes others have no such qualms.

Most employers don't use it because it's very expensive. Not only must they pay a decent wage, they must house the workers and pay round trip transportation to and from Mexico. Using it also opens an employers books to the government, something most businesses don't want to do.
My cousins use a similar program for seasonal help for their resort on Cape Cod and it's a paperwork nightmare. Trump uses it for his Florida clubs, perhaps for others as well.
Much easier to hire a person off the books.