Paralyzed by fear

The immigration debate in the U.S. scares me a little. A lot of folks seem to be frightened of the possibility of illegal aliens taking jobs from those already here. It's a little absurd, since most of the jobs are menial and ones most would turn up their noses at. What's the fear? Is it a false notion of scarcity, our ability to make sense and cope with a world changing faster than we can comprehend? Fear makes people act abnormally, move them to do things they would never do. Why can't we embrace our fears, take them and look seriously at them? Understand what they are and understand why we react to them? Or is that too much work, too much to ask for? Acting out of fear is never a strong position to be in.