[Poohbah]

We had a guest-worker program until 1965. We didn't have a significant illegal immigration problem until 1965.

A nonresident guest-worker program with applications only accepted in Mexico, and severely restricting welfare programs--you'd see an end to illegal immigration, and the self-deportation of present illegal immigrants.

JMO, YMMV.

[duffman]

I don't see how a guest worker program is necessary. At the time of the guest worker program, overall levels of legal immigration were quite low, which is certainly not the case today. Though we did abolish the guest worker program in 1965, that was the same year that we passed the 1965 Immigration Act, which vastly increased overall immigration. Lyndon B. Johnson also vastly expanded the welfare state with the Great Society in the mid to late 1960s.

I would argue that the main reason illegal immigration got worse after the 1960s was not the abolition of the guest worker program, which was more than made up for in a large overall increase in legal immigration with the 1965 Immigration Act. Even in the midst of the guest worker program, the U.S. deported substantial numbers of illegal aliens (as in "Operation Wetback" in 1953). The combination of the expanded welfare state and increasing political correctness (and therefore tolerance of illegal immigration) are mostly responsible for the vast increase in illegal immigration since 1965.