Immigration Enforcement: A History of Neglect

In 2007, former Secretary Napolitano wrote in the Washington Post that, "No one favors illegal immigration. But there are upwards of 12 million [to 40 million] people illegally in this country — people who work, who have settled their families and who have raised their children here. For 20 years our country has done basically nothing to enforce the 1986 legislation against either the employers who hired illegal immigrants or those who crossed our borders illegally to work for them. Accordingly, our current system is, effectively, silent amnesty." (Emphasis added)

She has a point even given her hyperbole. Americans thought, and Congress had promised, that the problem of illegal migration would be solved by the requirement that companies check the citizenship status of those they hired. It only became clear much later that the promise contained an enormous loophole; businesses did need to check, but they didn't need to verify what they were told. As a result, the number of illegal aliens began to grow, gradually at first and then with increasing speed...

Essentially, the integrity and enforcement of our immigration laws have became a bargaining chip to secure legalization for those who broke them and an opportunity to more than double the number of legal immigrants coming into the country each year.