A recent Associated Press article examined the impact of immigration — legal and illegal — on the U.S. economy. With the agricultural sector one of the facets of our economy most susceptible to immigration’s impact, the Associated Press spoke with ranchers in Nevada.

“When people complain that foreign workers are taking their jobs, I roll my eyes,” said Janille Baker, who manages a Nevada ranch’s accounting. “In any industry, everybody’s trying to find help. So this anti-immigration stance doesn’t really make sense to me. If everyone needs workers, how are you planning to fill those jobs?”

According to the Associated Press article, the ranch where Baker works follows federal rules that require advertising available positions and making them available first to U.S. citizens. In the last six years, only three Americans inquire about these jobs — and the only one to visit the ranch left after seeing what the work entailed.

We have editorialized in the past — and continue to believe — that our nation must vigoriously seek out and deport illegal immigrants and must improve security at the border and points of entry to prevent illegal immigration.

But we also continue to believe that our nation’s system for legal immigration is too prone to needless expenses and delays. We believe it is in the best interests of both our nation’s principles of God-given rights and of our future economic prosperity to streamline and improve the processes for legally immigrating to the United States.

We regret that this side of the equation frankly seems to be frequently neglected.

We hope our leaders and lawmakers can recognize this necessity. We hope, even as they pursue better enforcement and apprehension of illegal immigrants, they also can pursue a framework for legal immigration that better eneables men and women to seek the freedom and opportunities our Declaration of Independence and Constitution assure us are the right of all people.