I have never seen a study, or heard any hearings on the question of whether it is even possible to deport all illegals or prevent them from returning.
The closest answer might be the Operation Gate Keeper in which we tried to see if a 66 mile stretch of border could be sealed.
Double fences (some concrete and steel), guard towers, flood lights inferred cameras, ground sensors, patrol roads, horse patrols, ATV patrols, 16 helicopters, fixed wing aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, trucks, and a ratio of 25 guards per mile were incorporated. An estimated 30,000 t0 40,000 got through anyway.
Apply that ratio of 25 guards per mile to our 105,000 mile border/coastline and it comes out to 2,625,000 guards at an annual cost of $459,375,000,000.00 per year, and still 47,670,000 to 63,630,000 people could cross undetected into the U.S. each year.
That's a great post, bayourod. I see the most realistic approach as being build the walls and lock the doors, but obviously that's a preventative measure, not dealing with those already inside. Of course, if we'd taken the approach you describe since the 80's we might not be in the mess we're in now.
So, you see "rod", we caught over 600,000 in 1993. How did we reduce that number?
Since the launch of Operation Gatekeeper, apprehensions in San Diego have dropped from 45 percent to 30 percent of the total Southwest border. At the Imperial Beach station, which covers the first four miles from the ocean eastward and was the busiest border area, apprehensions dropped from 138,185 in FY 1994 (before the start of Gatekeeper) to 25,029 in FY 1997, an 82 percent reduction.
So, what this really means is that enforcement of the border works. But, that bothers you most of all.