The national debate over immigration reform and the ongoing regional debate over the construction of a fence along the United States’ border with Mexico has centered on the single issue of the security of our borders. For years U.S. policy toward dealing with the issue of illegal immigration has focused on increased security at our ports of entry and along the border. This de facto policy, which has spanned multiple presidential administrations and congresses, has done little to slow the flow of illegal immigration into the United States.

In the span of a decade, and despite additional security measures and several deployments of federal troops and the National Guard, the number of illegal immigrants has nearly doubled.

An estimated one-third of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants arrived here by legal means and overstayed their visa. Constructing a fence won’t deter every individual and it may actually accelerate the number of people who opt to overstay their visa. Each new layer of security put in place to stop illegal immigration is an attempt to plug the latest leak in the dam, and in doing so we only find more leaks have sprung somewhere else.

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The focus on additional security measures diverts resources and energy from the only proven security measure to stop people from crossing into the United States illegally, other people. However, on its own a vastly increased number of border agents will not stop every individual determined to enter the U.S.

Like it or not, in the case of illegal immigration, we are the victims of our own success. With the largest economy on the planet, a high rate of employment, and with an economic system that rewards hard work and ingenuity, the United States remains as it has since its founding a land of opportunity for immigrants, both legal and illegal.

Additionally, the cold reality is that many U.S. employers depend upon the access to immigrant labor, especially in jobs that are labor intensive.

If comprehensive immigration reform legislation in Washington, D.C., succumbs to politics and is taken from the table, we can be assured of having the opportunity to hear this debate again - even if the fence is built twice as high as currently proposed.

Matt Howe is director of Public Policy for the Border Trade Alliance. Contact the Border Trade Alliance in Phoenix at 1-800-333-5523

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