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Originally Posted by TexKan  they need to enforce the laws on the books |
That's the problem. The laws on the books are ineffective and unenforcable without-at the minimum- a significant increase in ICE/Treasury resources, a means to realistically adjust the quota's of the people let in legally, and a better means to verify eligibility to be here plus probably a constitutional amendment repealling the citizenship provision of the 14th amendment.
Start with the initial crossing of the border being a misdemeanor, and the inability of local law enforcement to do much more than call the ICE folks. If nothing else, the Ford county jail is insufficient now, just imagine what would happen if the local PD could "round them up"?
Add to it the unrealisitic system of determining who gets in and who doesn't based on some arbritrary number. The average citizen from south of the border has a snowball's chance in hell of getting let in legally as a resident within a reasonable wait time which prompts them to try to come here by the means they mostly use now. One could argue they shouldn't be admitted in the first place but that's not this issue.
Eligibility verification is a joke. Even the rudimentary law that requires employers to verify eligibility is fraught with pitfalls that let's an employer claim a good faith effort. Everyone "knows" who hires the illegal alien, but they have paperwork to show they had good faith otherwise. You can use an ATM in Peru and they can tell you your account balance but we can't verify green cards and multiple use? Regardless of where one sits on this documentation issue, I don't think it's the responsibility of a business, landlord, or anyone other private citizen or group to enforce.
Lastly, I think the US is the only major country that conferes citizenship on the offspring of illegal immigrants automatically at birth. This is how the illegal gets medicaid and food stamps and the other "hand outs" that is troublesome. We don't starve children because of their parents and as a society we like to "keep families together" but the societal cost, and to a certain extent-envy has become too great.
So I would have to disagree with you Tex, enforcing our current patchwork of laws won't work. We need them blown up and re-done. From what I've read, I don't think this thing as currently proposed is it.