Illegal Immigration and the State's Burden

I believe government at all levels should be responsible for immigration enforcement. A broken law is still broken, no matter who discovers it. For example, if a driver is pulled over for speeding and the officer discovers that driver is wanted for a crime in another state, should he let him go because it isn't his jurisdiction? The same principle applies to illegal immigrants. If the local sheriff's deputy discovers an "undocumented worker" while investigating another issue, it is that deputy's duty to take that individual into custody. Whether caught by a DEA agent, Customs agent, FBI or state patrol, any criminal found should be taken into custody.

Some may argue against the fiscal burdens placed on the states for this sort of additional enforcement. Does this mean if it is too expensive to enforce other laws, we will abandon them? If arson investigations become too costly, should we discard them? Who shall decide which laws to prosecute and which to dismiss? If law enforcement agencies cannot or will not enforce certain laws, then there is no purpose to having those laws on the books.

In theory, our tax dollars are collected and divided up between city, county, state and federal levels. Those dollars are then spent on different projects at each of those levels, each carefully earmarked and accounted for. In reality, that happens...sort of. The pipelines are very leaky and money is siphoned off for other purposes along the way. Some of those purposes are legit while a great many of them are not. Thanks incompetence, corruption or ignorance, a large amount of our tax money is squandered away. Perhaps if we patched up some of those leaks in the pipeline, we might find the funds to pay for the enforcement we deserve.