Americans are refusing those jobs because wages, benefits and working conditions are sub standard. Illegals don't care, we should. Companies hiring illegal immigrants are getting away with violations of Federal and local labor laws.

Although the concept of entitlement is a very destructive force in both capitalism and democracy, this weblist makes no sense- you can't 'change' someone's mentality concerning entitlement. . .you have to enforce rules. . .what a person believes or doesn't believe doesn't matter and really isn't the issue or anyone's business. . .

The illegal immigration problem is complex and won't be solved unless society implements and enforces several changes. One of these (the others addressed or to be addressed in related comments) is to reduce/eliminate the current entitlement mentality of American citizens. This mentality, along with an economically wasteful minimum wage (currently) and excessive welfare burden, are the core factors in the common "Americans refuse to do these jobs" argument. While society should encourage reasonable ambition, American society appears to have tipped toward the concept the citizens are entitled to an relatively high standard of living notwithstanding one's personal efforts (or namely the lack thereof). As little can be done to force a reduction in the domestic demand for lower skilled labor, the question is whether Americans are willing to take the steps necessary to force and encourage legal labor to provide the supply of same. Nevertheless, of the policies I believe must be made, changing the entitlement mentality would take the longest to implement (given social inertia) and alone (assuming for the moment that Americans have the will to make this change) would not suffice to solve the problem, as other changes must be made (as noted herein and elsewhere) in order to reduce the tide of illegal immigrants.