Well .. I just sent in a survey by the House repubs - biggest issue was immigration. I believe the WH has had a wake-up call with the Minuteman program.
I put a lot of emphasis on the issue and reminded them that during WWII we had what was called "spotters". They were volunteers (don't know what arm of law inforcement trained or supervised them), who did just about what the Minutemen are doing now. There's no reason why we can't do it again. I know a lot of people would feel more secure if they could be involved in securing their own country.
I had a relative who was a spotter along the California coast for (I believe) the Civil Defense during WWII. He had no particular qualifications other than owning a car, binoculars, a flashlight and having lots of time on his hands. He was given an area of coastline to watch and told to report anything unusual.