I tend to agree with your assessment of the situation. We already have the laws in place to manage (if not stop) illegal immigration, they're just not enforced.
In Post 7 Reaganwuzthebest wrote: "States have been authorized to enforce federal immigration laws since 1996 as long as their police are trained. [the emphasis in bold is mine]
Trained by who, the Feds? Is there a training program in place and is it funded? What incentive is there for them to do this when for all intents and purposes they don't seem to want illegal immigration stopped?
I may be too cynical these days, but after almost 40 years of watching this travesty, I don't believe a damn thing will happen, except amnesty (with whatever name it's given).
The feds train them for several weeks, supposedly they just added $40 million to the fund for those states that want to participate. Florida and Alabama police have been enforcing immigration law for over a year. They've found hundreds of illegals so far and got them deported.