Maybe this takes the self-service trend a bit too far?

The confident and impatient among us appear to be used to checking out their own groceries using one of those self-scanning devices at the supermarket. And the notion of pumping our own $4-a-gallon gasoline has found a home in our consciousness. But are the people who are in this country illegally ready to initiate their own deportation?

A new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement program calls on the estimated 12 million people here illegally to turn themselves in. In exchange, they get some time to tidy up their affairs in this country as well as a promise of not having their homes raided.

Not surprisingly, there were few takers at the five cities where "Operation Scheduled Departure" made its debut Tuesday.

There's some obvious conclusions to be drawn from that. One is that people who have gone to the trouble to get into this country illegally have an incentive to be here, and typically, it's a job. The other is that what compelled people to come in the first place is not likely to change spontaneously in response to a program.

But this program says something about our immigration enforcement efforts as well. It says that years of lax immigration and employment laws have created an impossible situation. It's so impossible that reasonable and smart people can be lured into trying something that is a perfect set- up for a late-night talk show host.

The math is simply daunting. There are 12 million people here illegally. Every year, all the police everywhere in the United States arrest only slightly more people than that for all crimes.

That means that apprehending all illegal immigrants would take a law enforcement program of enormous size and expense. Put another way, it's simply not practical to round up all the illegal immigrants and send them home. We don't have the resources.

So, what's to be done?

A good start would be to put into place a rational way for people in other countries to come here and work legally as our economy demands. And, yes, that means giving illegal immigrants the ability to get work visas and even a shot at citizenship over time.

But that change has to be coupled with a genuine effort to crack down on employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers.

After all, if there weren't jobs here, Operation Scheduled Departure might actually have some takers.