Immigration - The Issues

Do you see immigrants this way?
"Industrious self-starters who come to the United States to find work, create new wealth, and improve their lives are not a menace or a threat. They are an asset. No state seeks to drive out hard-working newcomers from New Mexico or Indiana; why should hard-working newcomers from Old Mexico or India be treated any differently? To say that they cross the border illegally only begs the question. Why should it be illegal for any person to come to the United States, assuming his intentions are peaceful and he is not likely to become a public charge or health risk?"
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/05/09/law_and_disorder/
This author notes that the 'real' problem is a result of the drug war vice the immigration restrictions:
"The organized-crime epidemic in Latin America, spawned by a U.S. drug policy more than four decades in the making, seems to be leeching into American cities. Powerful underworld networks supplying gringo drug users are becoming increasingly bold about expanding their businesses. In 2008, U.S. officials said that Mexican drug cartels were serving their customers in 195 American cities."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703338004575229913566531720.html
Dr. B's summary is here, and is where I purloined all these rich links.
http://cafehayek.com/2010/05/some-immigration-links-3.html

My econ professor sees the matter as one of collectively punishing large groups, which essentially victimizes the 'not guilty' in a blind effort to target the guilty:
"I wish I could say that the side I'm on has no collectivist thinking. But I can't. Many people have responded to the law, not by holding accountable and protesting the individual legislators who voted for it and the Arizonans who favor it, but by calling for a boycott of Arizona. Boycotts are unlikely to be effective but, even if they were effective, they would tend to penalize the wrong people. They're like sanctions. They don't single out the specific people who did something the boycotters object to. Instead, they treat Arizonans as one undifferentiated mass."
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2010/05/arizona_immigra.html
This issue illustrates federal policy failures on all levels - immigration, drug war, and social safety nets. It likely will never be solved due to the resulting complexities and unintended negative consequences, combined with most folks' fear of those 'not like me' which is in my view a constant in the human condition.