As SRS said earlier, the problem isn't illegal immigration, it is that the people who want to migrate to the US (that is migrate, not immigrate) to work and support their families at home are faced with horrendous difficulties getting here and than don't go home again because they don't want to face that journey again. Yes, we have had guest worker programs in the past in the US - the bracero program was notorious for the high level of skimming and kickbacks by/to the labor contractors and for the low pay and poor working conditions experienced by the workers themselves. The key to ending illegal immigration isn't fines, fences and massive deportations, it is a guest worker program that works, that pays the individual a wage and provides benefits equal to those earned by a citizen doing the same work, that allows him/her to pay into (and later collect) Social Security and that provides positive incentives for returning home.