And the rules of the human condition (i.e. those who are family and friends are humans, others are not) can't be ignored in trying to find a reasonable and effective way to control of the problem.
You'll find just as many people complaining about illegal immigrants, then winking about the fact that the foundation and drywall on their new house saved them a bundle of cash, since they used illegal immigrants.
Sorry if what I'm going to type has already been said by others, but here goes:
1. All immigration is a federal government issue and responsibility. All employment, drivers licensing, welfare, housing, healthcare, law enforcement/justice industry, etc. are state or local events and responsibility. The federal government is the culprit here by making states and localities bear the economic burden by not simply doing its job effectively. Move about half the Homeland Security people standing around doing nothing at airports to the southern border. There might be enough people to stand around doing nothing 6 feet apart along the entire Mexican border.
It's a national responsibility that affects some states more than others, yet the federal government has no incentive to stop it because of point 2.
2. You might want to cover your eyes and ignore this: cold-hearted economic studies show that illegal imigrants have a net positive effect on the economy. Yup. You add up all the social costs, subtract them from the economic gain, and the net effect is positive. Subsequent generations improve in economic status, which means more spending by them.
Illegal immigrants hold 19% of jobs in farming, 17% in cleaning and 11% to 12% in food preparation and construction. There is no evidence at all that legal residents holding those jobs have suffered reduced wages in those industries which are on the bottom rung of the income ladder.
They simply spend money to live like everyone else and consumption is king in the US economy, and construction is vital. Now... Only the federal government cares about the national economy. State and local governments don't give a hoot about the national economy. It makes you wonder if there is an intentional lack of action to stemming the tide?
3. Setting up machine gun nests and claymores along border sounds macho, but until the federal government allocates the available resources properly to enforce laws against hiring, there is little chance of seeing any solution. When the economy starts taking some lumps later on this year, the flow will slow a little, but not because of the feds doing anything about it.
