"Sounds like a lot of money and resources, plus expecting the government to be able to track anything is a reach, but commendable." - People coming over here are paying a coyote $5k to get them across. Imagine if they just paid $1k each to secure a proper work permit. There's a hunk of revenue right there. Now, reduce the costs of immigration enforcement, because we won't have as many folks crossing illegally. Cost savings to boot. Tracking is simple: your work permit is for a set period of time. Before it expires, you need to present it to immigration officials verifying that you are leaving the country, or present it in person to an immigration official for renewal (depending on how renewable we make them, under what conditions, etc.). Failure to do so results in 1) non-renewal of the work permit and 2) a bar to any further re-entry and work permit, ever again.
"Finding these folks jobs, commesurate with skillset will be a challenge which will lead to an increase in costs." Wait...I thought the problem was that they are taking all of our jobs? And, to look around, I can tell you that the brown folks aren't having a problem finding work. Go to any new subdivision being built. Go to the back of the house in a restaurant. They're plenty employed. Seriously, even the least employable are generally pretty employable. Hell, we have helped an illiterate Afghani single mom, and after a year, she was fully self-supporting of her and her two kids. And she's about as "least employable" as you can get.
"The stabilization part will cost a ton too, espeically for the crowd that already hates on us for being involved in the middle east for the last 10000 years." It doesn't have to be perfect, just better than it is. The best part is, the easiest step is one that SAVES us billions -- just end the war on drugs. Take away the value of the black market for narcos, and Mexico and Central America would improve by leaps and bounds in short order. As for the amount of assistance, it really doesn't take a lot. And again, a dollar of prevention saves two dollars of enforcement. It's going to be the more cost-effective path.
What folks fail to realize is that we have had a functional immigration system and southern border in the recent past (seriously, in my lifetime). It pre-dated the war on drugs - that's a biggie. We're actually at that strange place where doing the decent/humane thing and doing the fiscally and security responsible thing are THE SAME THING. Which actually means that it can't get done -- because unless it makes people suffer, than it doesn't satisfy those folks who wanna be "TOUGH ON IMMIGRATION!" It's myopic and simplistic, but fuck, at this point, we might as well print "myopic and simplistic" on all our coinage. Cause we sure as shit don't "in God we trust."