A fellow that I know is in the two-legged export business -- detention and export officer for ICE (nee INS). It is my understanding that the Boston office of ICE (covers Boston and eastern Massachusetts) has a quota of deporting about 5000 people per year. With hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in Massachusetts, you can guess just how soon we'll have a handle on this problem. The only people deported from Massachusetts are those who have committed felonies.
To top it off, local and state police officers are not allowed to detain perpetrators believed to be illegal immigrants. Only the feds can do that. Heck, even detention export officers can't detain persons believed to be here illegally (only certain ICE officers and Border Patrol can do that).
Our immigration/border control system is completely messed up.
Please don't misunderstand me; I don't have anything against immigrants. All four of my grandparents immigrated legally from the USSR. It's the illegal part that I've got a problem with.