Are America's cities, big and small, going to enact their own ordinances one by one to crack down on illegal immigration?

If so, will many of those ordinances be as excessively harsh and divisive as the misguided manifesto adopted Monday by the Farmers Branch City Council?

Or will we instead take the far more sensible and humane route of passing a comprehensive federal immigration reform law that works in the nation's best interests and doesn't scapegoat millions of people who came here with the noble intent of working hard and providing a better life for themselves and their families?

Illegal immigration is an eminently solvable problem, if only members of Congress will show the political will to compromise and work together. Democrats soon will assume a majority in both chambers. Fair, effective and thorough immigration reform suddenly looks more achievable. It's one of the few major issues on which President Bush and many Democrats largely agree.

Here's what reform legislation should bring about:

Tougher enforcement in the workplace. Two decades ago, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. But the law hasn't been aggressively enforced in the workplace. If it were, illegal immigration would shrink as word spread that undocumented persons were finding it much harder to land jobs in the United States.

More federal enforcement personnel and tougher penalties against employers would be needed. Prospective employees must be required to show tamper-proof identification proving that they are here legally.

Tougher enforcement on our borders. It's already improving and must continue to do so. Tougher workplace enforcement -- and therefore fewer jobs for the undocumented -- also would make it easier to control our borders.

Our enforcement should not include a multibillion-dollar fence spanning huge chunks of the U.S.-Mexico boundary. It would be an aesthetic nightmare, highly detrimental to wildlife along the Rio Grande separating Texas and Mexico, harmful to border trade and a xenophobic, undiplomatic affront to Latin nations to the south.

Higher levels of legal immigration. Illegal immigration has been heavy in part because U.S. quotas for legal immigration have been too low. If we curb illegal immigration, we'll need increased legal immigration to help take up the slack. A wave of retiring baby boomers also will amplify the need for young, able-bodied immigrant workers.

Conditional amnesty, with potential citizenship. As a result of our failure to enforce the 1986 immigration reform law, and our overly tight limits on legal immigration, we virtually invited striving, job-hungry foreigners to come here illegally. It would be expensive, cruel and impossible to round up and deport the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in America.

Besides, it wouldn't be in our best interests. We would lose needed workers, create hardships for many businesses and devastate immigrant families. We would further erode our international image, already tarnished by Bush's foreign policy blunders in Iraq.

A conditional amnesty should impose requirements on illegal immigrants who want to stay here and potentially attain citizenship. They might be required to have been here a specified number of years and kept their noses clean. They might have to pay fines or back taxes. Congress could work out the details.

Higher minimum wage. Illegal immigrants have lowered wages for many low- and moderate-income Americans competing for jobs such as installing carpet, laying tile, mowing lawns or cleaning hotel rooms. The pitifully low federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour should be raised at least $2 via a stand-alone bill or as part of comprehensive immigration reform. About half the states already have raised their minimums above $5.15 in the wake of congressional inaction.

Even if Washington were to enact a comprehensive reform bill early next year, it could take a few years to develop a fully functioning system that greatly diminishes workplace violations, seals our borders and provides a reliable flow of new, legal immigrants.

We can't rely on the Farmers Branches of the world to solve the problem. We need a national solution. The chances of that occurring brightened with the Democrats' triumphs on Nov. 7.