There are many reasons immigrants into our country illegally. Much of the reason is due to the economies of their own countries. When there are no jobs at home, they go elsewhere.

This is yet another wedge issue used to gain votes, rather than putting the politics aside and facing the reality of the situation in order to come to a reasonable solution.

Some economists are finally beginning to agree with what most workers have known for a long time. Paying undocumented workers less than legal workers depresses wages for all workers.

And while it is illegal for companies to employ undocumented workers, it happens, either knowingly or unknowingly. And if these companies get caught, the fines are usually worth it - at least for the larger corporations.

Buying forged documents is not that difficult - often they can be bought for $150 - and the dirty little secret few talk about is that these workers are paying taxes on their income, right along with Medicare and workman's compensation premiums. And where is that money going? It’s going right into the coffers of the programs that these workers will never benefit from, but will be used to shore up these programs for legal workers. And it's billions of dollars that the government is quite happy to accept.

Regardless of how you feel about the immigration issue, these people are here and there is not, nor will there ever be, enough law enforcement or ICE agents to deport them all.

You can be mad, if you want to, that they are here illegally. But that is not going to change the reality of the situation. So it's time to get over it and work together to find realistic solutions.

Rather than building an expensive wall costing billions of dollars, we're going to have to find common sense solutions.

Federal laws require all workers, whether legal or not, to be paid no less than the minimum wage, as well as overtime. Violating this law is not a criminal matter, but a civil one and it is not often an undocumented worker will risk suing his employer.

So we have two conflicting laws – one that makes it illegal to hire undocumented workers and another that requires, if they are hired, they be paid according to law. And a government not willing to use the data they have to deport many of these workers, because of what they bring to our economy.

So while our politicians deplore the exploitation of workers overseas, they tolerate their exploitation at home.

It’s time to look at the realities and make some realistic decisions.