re: Why are immigrants sneaking past the Mexican border bad from an economics standpoint?

If politicians were serious about stopping illegal immigration, they would make it a serious crime to hire illegals, and law enforcement agencies and prosecutors would go after employers as hard as they go after drugs now.

If a chicken plant, restaurant, ranch, or little old lady needing yard work knowingly hires an illegal (require the e-verification system be used), they should face huge fines and prison time.

Yet it seldom happens. The feds will raid a plant, but the management rarely faces serious repercussion. George W Bush was raiding a few meat plants, but congressmen for the districts (including Republicans) screamed that he was killing the local economy, so he backed off.

That they don’t prosecute the employers shows that all the sabre rattling about cracking down on illegals is just trying to score points against opponents. How many employers have the Texas governor and AG locked up? How many occupational licenses have they revoked because an employer knowingly hired illegals? I bet the number is close to zero.