This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Our country and workforce have evolved over the past 35 years. When I first owned a fast-food restaurant in the l970s, and later in the 1980s, a lot of moms worked part time Monday through Friday during the lunch hours for additional income. Their children worked evenings and weekends to earn money while attending high school or college.

When I returned to fast foods in the late 1990s, I found Hispanics had largely replaced the moms as well as their children. It seems that working part time in service sector was no longer acceptable to most people in this country. Whether it was restaurants, hotels, landscaping or other service occupations, this work was now beneath most Americans. Job applicants were now overwhelmingly Hispanic.

To my surprise, the vast majority of these new workers were the cream of the crop of my employees. They were more reliable, dedicated, respectful, hard working, caring and therefore, contributed more towards providing my customers with great service and a quality product. Those that learned English became even more valuable, as they could work the cash registers.

Whether they were illegal or not, they all paid federal and state taxes as well as contribute to Social Security and Medicare. If they worked at least 30 hours per week, they were eligible for our health insurance. They had all the same expenses every American does – rent, food, utilities, car expenses, etc.

In a nutshell, these people replaced the workers in this country who no longer wanted to work in these professions. They make the same money, pay the same taxes, spend money in our economy exactly the same way. And, for those who are illegal, they never get to file for tax refunds or claim Social Security or Medicare benefits.

So what are we to do with these people? Send them all home? Imagine the consequences to our economy if, say, 15 percent or so of the population left our country in a mass exodus because of immigration laws. If you think our economy had been in perilous times the past two years, you may have seen nothing compared to what would happen after they all left.

Perhaps there needs to be a compromise, not unlike what our Founding Fathers had to do when writing our Constitution. Perhaps we need to find a way to allow them to earn their legal status in our country without a mass exodus. Why couldn't immigration law be amended to allow illegal immigrants currently in our country a strict and enforceable plan that gives them two years to be eligible for residency? Have them sign up for a Social Security number, now prohibited by homeland security measures implemented after 9/11. Next, design a plan that includes a criminal background check, required English courses and revised residency requirements.

To make a system such as this work, we must also stop the illegal immigration from continuing into the future. Congress must find a way to pass border enforcement that works. To make my two-year immigration proposal work, it must be enforced. If illegal immigrants fail to complete their two-year plan to become legal, they must leave — no exceptions. In a nutshell, it could work.

Thomas R. Day lives in Salt Lake City.