I seem to remember sweeps in the 1980s.
This was the guy that was the driving force in immigration enforement. I seem to remember that he was pretty darn good in relative terms.
It was "Howard Ezell, former Western regional commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service"
The guy was reviled amongst those who didn't want enforcement.
Which were roughly akin to trying to sweep sand off of your front porch in the middle of a "100-year" sandstorm.