The biggest problem with all this was the idea that immigration was a crisis. There have been people crossing for centuries. We invited them in the Second World War. Then we liked their cheap labor and wanted to both keep them yet make them scared so they would never complain or step out of line. How to do that? Proclaim their work status to be “illegal.” If we really cared about the illegal work, we would arrest the people who hire them. Give enough of the real jail time, and there will be no hiring of undocumented workers.
The biggest problem with all this was the idea that immigration was a crisis. There have been people crossing for centuries. We invited them in the Second World War. Then we liked their cheap labor and wanted to both keep them yet make them scared so they would never complain or step out of line. How to do that? Proclaim their work status to be “illegal.” If we really cared about the illegal work, we would arrest the people who hire them. Give enough of the real jail time, and there will be no hiring of undocumented workers.