Sorry, but you know that it being “ineffective” or “expensive” are not the real reasons you oppose the wall. I’ve lived on the border long to see the difference even just a tall fence can make. I don’t even particularly like the fence but yes, of course, a large physical barrier is more effective than not.
Yes, those are part of the reasons. When I see the data on how many people are illegal in this country because of extended visa stays, when I see the sophisticated tunnels cartels build to transport their drugs, and when I see what desperate people are capable of doing to live in America, it's just logic and common sense that a wall isn't the answer to our problems. It's not going to be more effective than not, in my opinion.
I agree with you both here. Yes, I think a "good" wall is very helpful (opinions vary about what is "good"; I'm partial to the 30-ft beams that are near impossible to scale, but offer unlimited views of the other side). I lived in SoCal for decades, and remember how a sturdy wall at the San Diego border cut illegal immigration in that area by 95% (and eliminated flashing fwy sides on the 405 South screaming "Watch for pedestrians on Freeway").
But people who are starving, or living in a country besieged by war and violence, where 10 yr old kids are stolen to be brainwashed into cartel drug runners and assassins, would be desperate enough to brave any hardship to get their families to safety. A wall isn't a total answer; it's just a piece of a much larger puzzle.
Employers who knowingly hire illegals and exploit them should be the first ones in handcuffs. It takes a few clicks on a computer to verify legal status, but legal immigrants cannot be bullied and blackmailed into working 18 hr days for $2/bucks an hour. What these employers do to desperate people is dispicable; and it is criminal. They should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Immigrants who go through the system legally, then miss their court dates, let their visas expire or otherwise violate immigration laws are, quite frankly, fair game for ICE detainment and deportation. It's sad, even heart wrenching, but the US, like every other country on the planet, has the absolute right to secure its own borders and write its own immigration laws.
However, times like these, when our own government officials/agencies are violating our own immigration laws for political expedience, shakes my faith in our government to the core. How can we self-righteously blame immigrants who break our laws if our own government breaks them as well?
Scary times we're living in.