This canard is getting old and I wish we could get past it. When I first joined the Border Patrol in 1985 we had 2,300 agents to cover the entire US both northern and southern borders.
Today we have over 21,000 agents and we are still catching about the same number of aliens and being just as effective.
The reason enforcement does not work is because our underlining immigration policy undermines it. Our policy encourages aliens to break the law and offers no disincentives to doing so.
Adding another few thousand agents will achieve nothing.
What will work and have an instant effect on border security is the full implementation of E-Verify and everyone in DC knows it.
During IRCA, the last comprehensive immigration reform in 1986, border apprehension slowed to next to nothing overnight and stayed that way until it became apparent that the US Government was not going to enforce the employment provisions of the law.
Both Democrats and Republicans have been playing this game on us for years. When they say they are for more border security what they really mean is that they are only for enforcement AT THE BORDER which they know doesn't work and can't work with all the encouraging incentives they have put in place.
80 to 90 percent of illegal aliens come here for jobs. Take the jobs away and they will not come as we saw in 1986.
The 21,000 agents we have is plenty if they could focus on the remaining 10 to 20 percent of criminals, smugglers and potential terrorists who will come anyway. Its not hard to convince the 80 to 90 percent that no jobs will be available.
“What will work and have an instant effect on border security is the full implementation of E-Verify and everyone in DC knows it.”
E-Verify relies on Federal enforcement. It also requires all employers to get Federal permission to hire. This is a good thing?
What’s stopping the Federal government from preventing political enemies from hiring people?
E-Verify isn’t your friend. It’s a great tool for the federal government to encroach on fundamental freedoms.
Let’s be honest here - it’s the employers that are at fault. If employers didn’t hire people in the first place, they wouldn’t be coming. There is a labor demand for illegal aliens because:
1, they don’t have to be reported as employees. If you don’t have to pay taxes on hiring them, that makes them substantially more attractive than Americans.
2, they tend to do more for less. The economic incentive is there for them to be hired because they offer competitive benefits.
3, non-Union labor, the list goes on.
The real problem is number 1. It is so hard to hire someone legally, that there is great incentive to get around the law in order to get people in to actually get work done.
Eliminate the following:
1, union labor requirements.
2, taxes on hiring and registered employees. If the employer doesn’t have to pay for the legal employees, right away, you take away their incentive to hire people ‘off the books’.
I have heard exactly zero discussion of this point anywhere, especially from conservatives. It’s because the taxes and government intrusion into the hiring process is so high that illegal immigrants are attractive. E-verify just increases the intrusion.