Any chance Congress could pretend it never heard of immigration and stay away from the issue until after the election? We don’t think so either, so when the Senate returns from its two-week break in late April, expect to see more arguing over a bill that many Republicans don’t like and amendments that horrify many Democrats. Both might find acceptable compromise by thinking smaller.

Republicans have multiple challenges with immigration – one part of the party wants a wall; another part wants cheap labor; both want votes from the Mexican-Americans who have joined the many demonstrations across the country urging a liberal immigration policy. But Democrats are just as split, like Republicans, along education lines, with college graduates likely to urge more expansive policies, and those with a high school degree or less wanting tougher rules.

The reason isn’t hard to fathom – job security for those in both parties drives opinions, and whether or not Americans really do want the jobs being taken by illegal aliens, the feeling that the job you currently have could go next is real.

This makes talk of guest workers getting on the track for citizenship, to be replaced by more guest workers, etc., a frightening prospect. And while legislation could be carefully crafted to address the concerns of both workers and business, Congress is in a hurry these days and careful legislation is not on the agenda.

But the other half of the debate might be solved. There is widespread agreement that the United States should have control of its borders and there are recognized means of control, varying in degree from increased checking of advanced identification cards, more security forces with more equipment, various types of fences and the Great Wall of El Paso. This last idea, which actually has no official name yet, seems like the most expensive and ultimately the easiest to exploit.

But these barriers are cumulative, so Congress doesn’t need to decide which among them would work best; it needs to set the barriers in legislative order and add each until it finds the desired level of control. If it could save money on building a huge wall, it might also take some of the savings and invest it in economic development in Mexico, which would reduce the desire for immigration.

The debate in Washington is clearly about getting votes in addition to whatever restraints it places on illegal immigration so a smaller bill doesn’t stand much chance until the only other option is no bill at all. With schisms in both parties over what to do with the approximately 11 million undocumented workers currently in the United States, the answer – to be found between the congressional campaign break in April and the one in May, or certainly before the campaigning time in July and August – is a border measure that incrementally tightens security.

The guest-worker issue can wait for another year.