That's because the minors with two brain cells to rub together buy ciggies and beer at a discount from people who've already stolen the stuff. With ciggies and beer, mere possession by a minor is an offense in and of itself. Possession of money by an illegal alien isn't.
You expect there to be a strong financial mob of hush hush money transfer third parties to spring up?
Yes--because this tactic is nothing new, and neither is the countermeasure. In the early 1970s, the Border Patrol staked out Western Union offices in Southern California. That tactic worked--for all of two weeks. A group of enterprising U.S. citizens started making all manner of money transfers to Mexico. We arrested one guy on an unrelated charge (he was in the recreational pharmaceuticals industry), and found that he was charging a 10% tithe--and making out like a bandit, especially compared to what he had to pay his upline for grass and smack. (Most drug dealers only make 1-2% ROI after their bosses take their cuts.)
Western Union won't be opening up a subsidiary in the Yellow Pages advertising "we'll match you up with a U.S. citizen to wire money for you and all your illegal alien friends!
They won't need to. Adam Smith's invisible hand will do the deed for them.
This will stop the folks who can't out-think a politician.
In other words, it will stop only the leftmost end of the Bell Curve.
I really liked your point, but it made me realize you were making mine, well, sort of :D
Mere possession of money isn't illegal in and of itself. But LIVING HERE IS ILLEGAL. It's even more of a risk than the kid who gets a slap on the wrist for trying to buy the beer when they're 16 years old.
And, like every other government attempt to ban a certain type of market, it will just put more money into the hands of organized crime.
I guess we haven't really learned from Prohibition or the WOD.