The current immigration bill debate is bound to end in a compormise that will satisfy no one, will not stop illegal immigration to this country ( and the exploitation of those illegal immigrants ) and will leave our country no more secure or prosperous than before the debate.

What I suggest is that we look at the reasons behind illegal immigration and look for solutions to those reasons.

First off, let's get the smokescreen out of the way. I'm sure that there are Cambodian illegals and Canadian illegals and Costa Rican illegals and Irish illegals and the rest. And if you add them all up they don't equal the amount of Mexican illegals that cross our borders during the shortest month of any given year. The problem is a massive influx of Mexican illegals crossing our border. And why are they uprooting themselves and leaving their homes to live an uncertain and furtive life in the United States? They do so because a pauper's wage in Southern California is several times what the average worker earns in Mexico.

Now Mexico is not a poor nation. It is blessed with enormous amounts of natural resourses, including petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, and timber. It posseses a 9,330 km coastline which sponsors very profitable (and very underdeveloped) fishing and tourist industries.

The reason that a country with such wealth and potential is conversely so monetarily poor is tied to generations of governmental corruption and poor governance. The President of Mexico, Vincente Fox has admitted as much to reporters and has said that the process to make Mexico financially prosperous enough so that it will stop exporting it's poor will take "generations". Additionally, recent polling suggests that, given the opportunity, in excess of 70% of the Mexican population would move to the United States.

There is another answer. Annex Mexico. I know it might sound radical, but I think it's time to give it a look. We will absorb 110 million Mexicans into our country and after a suitable period of governance under "protected territory" status we will then incorporate Mexico as a full member of the United States. Starting immediately United States law will be practiced, and governance will be run by appointed officials. Restrictions that currently exist which prevent American citizens from owning land in Mexico will be lifted, and American entrepreneurs and corporations will be given economic incentives (think tax breaks) to open operations in the new Mexican Territories. Of course travel restrictions between the Mexican Territories and the United States will be removed, so there will be a free flow of people both north and south.

The only thing to work out will be the actual number of States that the former Mexican nation will be divided into. I would suggest perhaps five. Again these issues will be hammered out over the course of the annexation and protectorate period.