If the public can be aroused over and over again, then that proves my point: illegal immigration is not a top, sustained priority for most people, and the issue falls off the radar for many unless someone makes it an issue. If no one is forced to evaluate the programs' effectiveness, what that means is that for the most part people don't care.
Most people in this country don't deal with the illegal immigration problem face-to-face on a daily basis. If they did, politicians would be forced to pay more than lip service to enforcement. With this essay, Thompson is making the argument for immigration enforcement to those who don't realize how much illegal immigration affects them. That's the first step toward forcing politicians nationwide to take this seriously.
As for what Thompson has accomplished, it's been well-documented on this forum.
Ah, but that's changing, rapidly.
I live in a very rural midwestern county. It wasn't that long ago that high school kids took summer jobs "working in the fields." Now, the population is about 15% Mexican -- probably for the most part illegal, going by what I've observed (and conversations with cops). Crime is up, and high school kids don't work during the summer anymore. The Mexicans came in and undercut them. Sort of like "block-busting, country-style."
So, more and more people -- even people living in "way out of the way" locations -- are coming "face-to-face on a daily basis" with this nightmare. And it ain't pretty.
The government's response has been a redefining moment in the concept of "cynical." A year or so ago they DID have something of a "crackdown." The feds came in, and busted something lie 50 to 75 illegals.
The surreal thing was that they were NOT the Mexicans that they had to wade through in order to get to the target of the crackdown -- which was a single Chinese restaurant.
I guess the Chinaman took one look at things, figured it was perfectly safe to run an operation based on illegal alien workers, but DIDN'T realize that this sort of Above The Law pass ONLY applies to Mexican illegal aliens.
Bottom line appears to be that so long as "prominent" employers -- deep-pocket big-fish types with political clout -- WANT to have their "virtual coolie labor force", Washington will look the other way, and when necessary to make it LOOK like they're doing something, go after some two-bit Chinese restaurant.