<snip>
Here is another way to consider the problem:
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a leader in the anti-immigration movement and acclaimed as America's toughest sheriff, cannot secure his own jails. Every year, despite armed guards, electronic locks and video monitors, inmates smuggle drugs in from the outside and sometimes even escape.
No one would blame Arpaio. All penal ins utions, regardless of security measures, have breaches.
Yet imagine if America adopted a position that no new laws could be passed regarding prison reform "until the nation's jails are secure."
<snip>
"Everybody is jumping on the border-security bandwagon, including moderate Democrats," Barry said. "It's not driven by anything real on the grid, not by violence or invasions of illegal immigrants . . . not based on any real assessment of threats to the nation."
<snip>
Wucker, author of "Lockout: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong," said those who demand a sort of iron curtain prior to policy change are obstructionists: "It means don't ever come up with a workable system.