The repercussions of the workplace raid in Postville Monday, the largest single-site raid in the nation, are wrenching on so many levels.

Federal immigration agents and other law officers who descended on Agriprocessors Inc., the kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, were doing their jobs. They executed search warrants related to criminal activity as well as a civil search warrant for people believed to be in the country illegally.

But that does not diminish the painful fallout from escalating raids resulting at least in part from the failure of Congress and the president to repair the nation's broken immigration system. Such raids, though record in size, ultimately do little to resolve how this nation should sensibly regulate immigration levels or how it should address the 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States, many with children who are U.S. citizens. Voters should make it clear in the 2008 elections that they expect their elected representatives to pass practical, humane reforms.

While a lot is left to be sorted out, consider:

• The detention of hundreds of people has created turmoil for their families. Frightened residents of the northeast Iowa town gathered at St. Bridget's Catholic Church for assistance. Children, picked up after school by relatives, don't know the fate of their parents. Relatives and friends anxiously await word about those detained.
• The future of some businesses seems uncertain. While rabbis told the Register on Monday that they were confident the plant, opened in 1987, would continue to operate, the raid disrupted business at least temporarily. Meanwhile, Hispanic businesses in downtown Postville were shuttered on Monday, including a grocery store and restaurant.
• The community may lose vitality if it ends up with fewer residents and places of employment. Some of its ethnic diversity may be lost as well. Most of the detainees have said they are Guatemalans. Others are from Mexico, Israel and Ukraine.

It has to be acknowledged that some reported problems at the plant might have occurred even if leaders had found the courage to pass comprehensive immigration reform last summer instead of caving to political pressure from anti-immigrant forces. Authorities allege that identity theft was widespread, with as many as three-fourths of workers at the end of last year using fraudulent Social Security numbers.

But the alleged abuse of workers - including payment of wages below legal minimums and a horrifying story about a supervisor allegedly striking an employee with a meat hook - surely would be less likely if workers were able to come out of the shadows and gain legal status.

It's time to look at immigration reform as more than a political problem. It's an economic and a social problem, as Postville illustrates. The U.S. work force needs the labor of new immigrants as it faces a shortage with baby-boomer retirements. The country needs the vitality that new immigrants bring to communities.

Stronger border security and enforcement of existing immigration laws alone will not stop illegal immigrants, though these steps apparently have slowed the flow, according to news reports. Some people desperate to escape poverty in their home countries still will come.

The nation needs higher, realistic immigration quotas to meet work-force demands. It needs a flexible guest-worker program. It needs a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are otherwise in good standing.

Then there would be less need for raids like the one in Postville.