I AM DISAPPOINTED IN WHAT LITTLE HAS BEEN DONE ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, EVEN WITH BUILDING THE WALL. THIS IS A CYNICAL, BUT PLAUSIBLE, TAKE ON WHY. What Happened to Dealing with Illegal Immigration?

There are reasons to be concerned about illegal immigrants beyond the labor market, of course. Trump as a candidate made a big stink about illegal immigrants and violent crime, but his administration has not done a thing about that, and we still have illegals belonging to Central American gangs carrying out murders in American cities. Illegals are also themselves more vulnerable and likely to be victimized in various ways. And, of course, seeing to it that the laws on the books are actually enforced should be a norm. We write them down for a reason.

So why is the Trump administration sitting on its hands when it comes to illegals but assertive when it comes to legal immigrants and would-be legal immigrants?

The answer is: For the same reason the gun-grabbers concentrate their efforts on federally licensed firearms dealers and the people who do business with them — the nation’s least-criminal demographic — rather than prosecuting real-life straw-buyer cases or making sure that offenders do real time for weapons charges. It is pretty easy to police law-abiding people who are voluntarily submitting themselves to a legal process (whether that is immigration or buying a gun), filing paperwork, and undergoing background checks. Chasing actual lawbreakers around? That’s work.