I wish INS had done what it was mandated to do. We would not have the magnitude of today's illegal residents. Just like many bureaucracies, the INS hassled middle-class potential immigrants (people who tried to enter legally) as a means of "feeling good" about doing their jobs. I don't want to take this thread in a immigration debate direction, I just wanted to make a comment about the abject failure ever since Reagan's Amnesty to live up to the enforcement half of the legislation.
Agreed. I won't go further either but to say enforcing the law does not seem to be in vogue with some agencies. More conservative judges will help too, IMHO, which is why we must retain the presidency in 2008.