Why not secure the border?

DallasMorningViews | Rod Dreher:

“Since everybody agrees on the necessity of a secure border as part of immigration reform, but nobody agrees on anything else, why not do what we can do now? ... Build a fence, or do whatever's necessary to do what normal countries do, which is to say, establish control over who comes in and goes out of that country, and once the feds can show that we've got border security, any number of further reforms will be relatively easy to accomplish.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Why not just build a fence? Because many people believe that securing the border without comprehensive immigration reform is a fool's mission.

As long as there are employers with jobs in the US needing to be done and workers in Mexico willing to do those jobs, the two groups will find a way to get together, fence or no fence. Half of the illegal immigrants currently in the US did not come across the border illegally. They entered the country legally and overstayed their visa. A fence might force people to change how they enter the country, but it will not significantly change the total number of illegal immigrants in this country.

Instead, make it easy for temporary workers to work legally in this country and most workers will follow the rules. A fence then becomes almost as easy, cheap and non-controversial as those retractable strap crowd control barriers used in restaurants, stores, theaters, etc.

Enact comprehensive immigration reform and a simple fence becomes affordable and practical. Try to build an impregnable fence without comprehensive immigration reform and the effort becomes both hugely expensive and ineffective.