One question, if 100% of the illegals are breaking the law by being here, how can the rate of crime for this group be lower than 100%?
Your analysis does raise some points that I will have to ponder. Thank you.
Agreed, but you really don't want to go there, unless you want to argue for the incarceration of all inhabitants of the USA. The question is not "have they done something wrong by jumping the border." I argue that they have, and should PAY for it. The question is "how serious of a crime should we reckon this to be?" We allow citizens to pay a fine for speeding infractions. We don't impound their cars. We have set up a "wink wink" policy of "we will pretend you aren't here" policy. We should set up a penalty system to punish the lawbreakers who have violated US sovereignty by illegally transgressing our borders with a penalty that recognizes our own culpability in not honestly assessing our labor markets and setting appropriate immigrations quotas. This does NOT include the "throw em out and lock it down" approach which many freepers here are absolutely fixated on.