On immigration

I live in Southern Mexico so it is with great interest that I follow the issue of illegal immigration. The town of Ixtepec has a train station and it is common to find central Americans literally hanging off the northbound trains on their way to way to America. During the trains layover the migrants catch some sleep in the fields along the sides of the tracks, or eat a simple meal of beans and rice. Although I might consider myself poor, compared to them I live a life of luxury. To see them is both humbling and heartbreaking, as such I can not view these people as criminals. Yet I also readily acknowledge a country needs to maintain its borders and set its own immigration policy.
Generally, I do support the Senate bill that was recently passed, I seriously doubt how it will stem the flow of immigration though. It seems to me that people who were not deterred by the daunting trip from Central America will be deterred by a ten foot fence. There is a saying, to overcome a ten foot fence build an eleven foot ladder. Also, I am reminded that if East Germans were willing to brave bullets and minefields in order to live a better life, how much less successful will our efforts be at border enforcement because, and thank God, no one is proposing shooting the illegal immigrants. So it seems to me one the solutions is to address the causes of the immigration. The Central American countries and, to a lesser extent, Mexico need fundamental economic reform. The United States can accomplish this by offering aid or other inducements predicated on the enactments of these reforms.
One such inducement could be to give preferential immigration treatment to the citizens of Central America and Mexico. America does offer preferential treatment to Cubans, they only need to set foot on American soil. Likewise, if a Mexican, or Dominican, can throw a hundred mile an hour fastball and bat over 300 a visa would be quickly forthcoming, but to obtain a visa in order to clean the bathrooms at a baseball stadium for that selfsame person is very difficult to obtain.
I understand how an African, or a Latvian for that matter, might find it unfair but this is acknowledging the simple fact of geography.
Another inducement is education. Mexico is the 12th largest economy in the world and has the 12 largest population, but according to some statistics I have read it is ranked 56th in education. An expanded Peace corps presence or inducements for American teachers to live and work for a year in these countries can be vital because education is a key to prosperity.