[Navy Patriot]

Your reasoning and ethical thought here is good, but it seems to me that only those illegals with accumulated assets here would be motivated to cash out and go. Those that send everything home they earn and live on the fringes and entitlements would stay. Only about 20 years on an unpaid prison work gang, 365 a year, would get their attention, and they would have to know of some illegal currently serving to believe it. Highly unlikely to happen.

[Sabertooth]

...it seems to me that only those illegals with accumulated assets here would be motivated to cash out and go. Those that send everything home they earn and live on the fringes and entitlements would stay.

To some extent this is true... not all 12 million would deport themselves.

But asset forfeiture would definitely make a smaller haystack, and provide less incentive for newcomers. Also, guest worker programs would become far more attractive.

And the INS would have a profit motive to enforce the law, though it's sad that's necessary.