Why should we give them amnesty? What part of "illegal" do people not understand?

This can't have an all-or-nothing solution; it has to be somewhere in the middle. U.S. immigration laws and process need to be overhauled so that legal immigration is a more realistic prospect, but the U.S. (nor any other country, for that matter) should not feel obligated to give amnesty to people who are breaking its laws by being here. People who hire illegals should be punished and the minimum wage should be raised so that citizens and legal residents who earn their money "on the books" can afford to take those jobs for which employers are so eager to underpay illegals.