illegal immigration

I feel mixed about the immigration issue. Like most immigrants to this country I had to battle with the INS, a humongous bureaucracy that lost my papers twice. It was agony and since a lot of people like me play by the rules, I think no exceptions should be made except in asylum cases. Just because you pay taxes but walked across the border illegally, does not mean you are more legitimate than the person who waited for his papers, before crossing the border.
At the same time, I also think that a place like California needs the immigrant workforce and that there are jobs and wages that Americans don't want. The immigrants who pick the grapes, work in construction and clean our houses are the oil of the California economy. I'm not at all anti-immigrant or xenophobic. I think all immigration is good in terms of turning the host society into a more dynamic, more interesting and more flourishing place. All immigrants are welcome here and the ones that are here illegal need to be stimulated and assisted to make themselves legal and that does not mean any handouts or shortcuts but form after form, which I filled out, too, to come to this country. America is about treating everyone the same way and that ideal should be enforced at the moment of entry. Plain and simple.