We have decades of data proving that the biggest declines in illegal immigration happen when we have robust guest worker visa programs.

As the chart below shows, illegal crossings were cut to almost zero in the 1950s and early 1960s when we had the Bracero Program that allowed Mexicans and Central Americans to work seasonally in agricultural jobs.

We need an expanded visa program for these “guest workers” for farms, factory work, chicken, seafood processing plants, etc. These are jobs that for many decades have been done by hard-working immigrants – some legal and some illegal.

Assigning temporary visas for these foreign workers would be a lot smarter than workplace raids, which have rarely worked.

With nearly seven million job openings already and the pro-growth Trump tax, regulatory and energy policies, the demand for willing workers is likely to skyrocket over the next several years.