Wednesday's Daily Collegian editorial was wrong on a few points ("Immigration Legislation: Economy would collapse without immigrants," March 29). First, it implied that the 11 million illegal immigrants working in this country are no different than my great-grandparents, or any immigrants who came to this land.

There is a major difference, in that most immigrants came to this country through proper channels. Second, the editorial claims if all illegal immigrants were deported, the entire economy would collapse. As illegal immigrants make up only about 4 percent of the labor force, that is highly unlikely. Finally, the editorial supports a guest worker program, but similar programs have been attempted in Europe and have led to a great deal of labor strife, creating more problems than they solved.

The real problem with illegal immigration is that immigrants work for paltry wages, which is why the prices of tomatoes and chicken are so low. The other problem is that the southern border of the U.S. is so porous that terrorists, and more commonly, drug smugglers, can easily cross it. Most illegal immigrants abide by the law to avoid getting deported. We need a humane immigration policy that tightens border security but does not reward people for breaking the laws.