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You further assume that the illegals will register. I posted an article tonight from the Naples Daily News where the illegals talk about not registering. In fact, they kind of like the way it is with the exception of getting caught. Only a complete amnesty would get them to come out of the woods.

Thus my "pessimism" regarding the proposal. This is not a fix. I laid out the most draconian fix which is never going to happen but there is another one less draconian but also stands little chance of working.

The INS has a grand total of 2000 field agents to enforce the immigration laws over the entire country. Do the math 2000 divided into anywhere from 8 to 14 million depending who is publishing the numbers. The Feds could boost the number of field agent a hundred fold and still not make a dent. It is obvious that without the help of the State and local governments the Feds alone cannot make the difference. The problem is that the Bush administration has already ask for state cooperation and even after 911 almost to a man they told him to kiss off. The ugly truth is that these illegal aliens are not only tolerated by the states they are protected from the Feds. That is why I am pessimistic. That is why nothing effective will ever be done until the states themselves get involved.

I agree with your assessment on manpower. Just think of the numer of speeding tickets that are issued daily in this country. If each cop nabbed one illegal the problem would be over.

I am not sure about the states getting in the way though. I remember reading that the INS and the state of Florida had agreed to allow the state to arrest illegals for immigration violations. I believe it was back in 2002. Sorry that I cannot remember the details better, but that is the key to the numbers problem. We have a large force of law officers already available. We need to use them.