I still remember around 50 years ago and watching Harlan Carter on one of the Sunday morning news show like “Meet the Press”.
He surprised everyone by saying it would not be hard to stop illegal immigration. He said just give him the resources and he would stop it. He also made it clear that he was not talking about a huge army of border patrolmen.
I think a fence is a good idea but increasing the number of agents, giving them free reign and backing them up legally would be more effective.
Probably the most ideal way is to really enforce current laws and quit giving them huge incentives to come here illegally. Make it so hard on them that they will go back to where they came from on their own.
Incentives:
DACA. DACA means the families are urging their children to go to El Norte unaccompanied and hope to find safe harbor. The progressives who laud DACA are also up in arms over human trafficking but somehow fail to see the connection between illegal immigration and human trafficking.
"Citizenship at birth" (14th Amendment) from having been born on American soil (current interpretation). Creation of anchor babies.
Companies that want cheap slave labor with no questions asked.
Punish employers who hire illegals. Track a gaggle of illegals on their way to work, find out who their employer is, refuse to do business with that employer. Hit them in the wallet. Deprive the fire of oxygen and it will be extinguished.
Think of Aesop's fable of the fox and the fleas.
I think you’re right. In one day, with a pen you could solve 99% of our problems. Charge the businesses $10,000 per illegal employed, and the cost goes up exponentially if they aren’t fired. Make it illegal to sell or rent to them so they have no place to live or work. They would self-deport in minutes. Then, dig up the body of Teddy Kennedy and urinate on it. That last part wouldn’t halt illegal immigration, it would just be funny.