To those most vocal against illegal immigration, the raid against several Swift meat-packing plants was an early Christmas present. Government agents raided plants in six states, including one in Hyrum, Utah, that resulted in the arrests of more than 1,200 people. Most of those arrested were charged with immigration violations, while 58 faced criminal charges such as identity theft for using stolen documents to get jobs.

The raids played to those who favor simplistic solutions: immigrants are rounded up and sent back to wherever they came from.

In reality, the raid reflected the futility of that approach and the need for a more comprehensive immigration reform.

While the raid resulted in a handful of arrests, there are still 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States. It's highly unlikely Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are going to round up each and every one. Twelve-hundred is an insignificant number given the staggering scale of the problem.

To the consternation of many, the Swift raids also netted legal immigrants who made the mistake of leaving their papers home that day. While they should have had proper documentation with them, the picture of government agents grabbing innocent people does little to inspire confidence in such enforcement tactics. The whole episode was a public relations disaster, almost on the same scale as the infamous Short Creek raids against polygamist families in 1953. Sure, some criminals were caught. But many innocent lives were unnecessarily disrupted. Children's lives were thrown into frightening chaos as their parents were shipped off to detention centers.

With the Swift raids, we have to wonder whose bright idea it was to publicly disrupt so many families just before Christmas.

While enforcement is an important element in immigration control, it is not the only one. For example, Swift was put in a difficult position of not knowing which of its employees were using stolen identifications. While Swift was participating in a government program to spot fake Social Security cards, the program did nothing to flag other documents.

Helping employers spot stolen or fake IDs would go a long way toward keeping illegal workers out of the work force. So would implementing a guest worker program.

The fact that Swift's plants resumed operation at reduced capacity highlights the fact that our economy has become dependent upon foreign workers. How many Americans want to spend their work days cutting up pigs and steers on an assembly linefi Obviously not many, given the number of illegal immigrants seized at the Swift plants.

A guest worker program would address both identity theft and the need for laborers.

If foreign workers have a reasonably easy, legal way to come into the United States to work, they will have no incentive to enter illegally and use stolen Social Security numbers.

It would also provide businesses such as Swift with a legal supply of workers, which is good for the consumer. Without foreign labor, the cost of meat, produce and other goods and services would go up significantly in order to pay the wages Americans insist on if they are going to get their hands dirty in such pursuits.

At the same time, punishment of employers who knowingly hire illegals should be quick and severe. That would be a more certain way, if the government were truly looking for that, of stopping the flow of illegal immigrants -- more certain than a 700-mile border fence, which is looking all the time like a colossal boondoggle that will do nothing but waste $2.2 billion on the taxpayers' money. Most illegal immigrants are here as a result of visa overstays, not because they sneaked in over the desert.

A broader immigration reform package is needed to reduce the incentive for non-Americans to sneak into the country. Let's avoid another spectacle like the Swift raids.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A6.

Do you agree?