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Basically, he says “build a fence” because he’s allowed to say build a fence. How hard do you think the chamber of commerce would fight him if he said “don’t give illegals driver licenses and tax ID’s, don’t treat them in hospitals, don’t let their children in public schools, definitely don’t give them in state tuition, and most of all arrest, fine and imprison anyone who hires them instead of hiring a legal American.” That’s the solution, that’s how countries other than the US make sure they don’t have this problem.

Shikha Dalmia is a senior analyst at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank advancing free minds and free markets.

Dalmia is a Bloomberg View contributor, a columnist at The Week, and writes regularly for Reason magazine. She also writes frequently for The Wall Street Journal and numerous other publications such as the Times of London, Time, USA Today and The Daily Beast. She previously served as a columnist for Forbes and the Washington Examiner.

Dalmia was co-winner of the first 2009 Bastiat Prize for Online Journalism for her columns in Forbes and Reason.

From 1996 to 2004, Dalmia was as an award-winning editorial writer at the Detroit News, covering a variety of policy issues, including the environment, immigration, Social Security, welfare reform, health care and foreign policy. She also worked as a reporter for the Patriot, a national daily newspaper based in New Delhi, India, where she grew up and earned her B.S. degree in chemistry and biology from the University of Delhi.

Dalmia frequently appears on Fox Business Network, BBC Business Matters, MSNBC and other television and radio outlets.

Dalmia, who taught news writing courses at Michigan State University, earned a Master's degree in mass communication from Louisiana State University. She also holds a post graduate diploma in journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communications.

She lives in the Detroit area with her husband and son.