No matter what anyone thinks about the current congressional showdown over U.S. immigration, it seems reasonable that the government needs to close some of the most egregious gaps in our porous national boundaries.

So the arrest of 1,200 workers — and, more importantly, the filing of criminal charges against seven of their managers at the Houston-based pallet company IFCO Systems North America — marks a necessary step in the long trek toward a sane immigration policy.

Homeland Security, where the enforcement crackdown predated the current legislative uproar, correctly placed its focus on the worst offenders among companies that systematically solicit undocumented workers.

With the number of illegal immigrants in this country estimated at 11 million, it would be ludicrous to expect the criminal justice system could round them up and send them all packing.

For the ones with an established life in America — those here five years or more, as is proposed in a bipartisan compromise plan — the most realistic way to manage this long -uncontrolled situation is to create a legal status that enables them to remain, fully accountable to their host government.

Part of the answer lies in making the legal pathway to citizenship strict but rational. Those who came into this country through the front door deserve preferential treatment.

However, part of the answer also lies in tightened security — and the businesses that profit off the trafficking in cheap labor also sabotage our national efforts at achieving that security. They capitalize on the desperation of poor people, who sacrifice decent wages for employment, even under substandard conditions.

As long as this illicit, underground system stays in place, there will be no way to stem illegal immigration. The feds must strike back at those in charge — and the higher-ranking corporate official we can penalize, the better.