Where there is Smoke, there is Fire

The recent national immigration firestorm may be dying down but I'm left with some questions.

Why is providing a path to legal status or citizenship considered "Amnesty" by some parties in the immigration debate? Consulting Wikipedia tells us that changing a law does not equate to "Amnesty". Is this true concern for the rule of law or is this a smoke-screen used by xenophobes to feed the fire?

Here are some observances:
The sheer size of the group, an estimated 12 million undocumented workers, tells us several things.
- there are plenty of low-wage jobs to go around
- they keep coming, sometimes braving death
- our economy would be seriously hurt if they went home; who seriously thinks that all those jobs would be filled by US citizens were we even capable of deporting the entire group.

The fact that so many are willing to risk so much just for the opportunity means that we have something of extreme value. The fact that so many are here working and raising families means there is an abundance of opportunity in this country.

It's like we're a kid whose father owns a candy store but we insist on keeping our classmates out because we want all of the candy to ourselves despite the fact that we'll never be able to eat it all ourselves.

So, maybe we'll never agree on what to do with the 'illegals' already here. Kick 'em out and trigger a recession or let 'em stay and watch the conservatives have a conniption fit. I can just see Ann Coulter having a seizure and babbling on about ".. but they're illegals!"

We have an embarrassment of riches. We have so much economic growth that we can't fill all the jobs with our own citizens. What options does that leave us?

Problem: Too many jobs
Solution 1: fire the illegals and hope more citizens want to work backbreaking low-wage jobs
Solution 2: let them stay and pay a fine or otherwise become documented; this generates an undeserved whirlwind of "Amnesty"
Solution 3: send all the extra jobs overseas; ok, maybe we've finally found the theoretical limit to offshoring jobs, this is illogical for harvesting crops or landscaping

and the most overlooked?

Solution 4: raise the cap on the number of immigrants allowed into the country per year

If the supply of jobs is so high and the demand for them is even higher, why keep letting so few in? Our current policy is akin to rationing water during a rainstorm but making it illegal to use what is freely falling to our feet.

Of what are we afraid?