So we find ourselves agreeing with both sides in the debate, those who want stricter border control and those who want to make it possible for those now in the country illegally to attain lawful residence.

Without both, unscrupulous employers can exploit undocumented workers, who have no legal recourse because they fear deportation. That depresses wages and erodes job conditions for all workers.

On the enforcement side, far too little has been done to crack down on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. It was encouraging, then, to see Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers raid a business last week that federal officials allege was systematically importing illegal workers. The ICE not only rounded up about 1,200 undocumented workers at locations nationwide, including 13 in Tooele County, but arrested seven executives from the firm.

We can count on one hand the highly publicized enforcement actions of this kind that have occurred in Utah. We can think of only one other that has involved strong action against the employer.

Immigration enforcement officials announced last week that they are implementing a comprehensive enforcement strategy for the nation's interior. They will have to establish a track record that actually deters employers from illegal conduct before they earn the nation's praise, but at least ICE appears to be making a beginning.

A couple of days after the ICE raid, The Tribune's Sunday edition included a report on the lack of immigration enforcement in Blanding, a part of the nation's interior that apparently is not prominent on the ICE's radar. The story detailed the frustration that local police officers face when they encounter people on rural Utah roads who appear to be undocumented and the officers have neither the resources nor the authority to enforce immigration law.

The story undoubtedly left many readers shaking their heads, but it illustrates both the complexity and magnitude of the immigration challenge, and why Congress must enact comprehensive reform.