I WANT ANSWERS! part 2

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In the first I.W.A. discussion, I posed a number of (I thought) thoughtful questions about the immigration situation. I have received several thoughtful replies, although we haven't quite found the answers yet. I have come to another set of vexing questions, though: Why is the American knee-jerk response to any social problem to punish someone for it? We have the most bizarre tendency to reach for law enforcement solutions to basic human issues, and it just doesn't make any sense. It also frequently flies in the face of reality. The war on drugs is one of these type situations, but that's a different discussion. I'll stick to immigration, for now. With the immigration issue, the questions are simple. Round up and deport? Who will round them up, guard them while detained, adjudicate the cases? Where would we even BEGIN to house 12 million prisoners? There's around 3 million in American prisons now, with overcrowding and poor conditions a problem in many places, how many bleepin' prisons are we gonna build? What do you think will happen to our economy if we lose 8-10 million workers in the course of 2 years or so? There may be a very small percentage of jobs held by undocumented workers that Americans would be willing to fill, as someone mentioned in part 1, but the vast majority of these jobs are beneath our soft, pampered selves and would go undone. Numerous farm owners in a number of states have already complained about fruit rotting in the fields and on the docks because there's fewer migrant workers since the recent crackdowns. Just how much money are we willing to pay for a piece of fruit? A loaf of bread? Isn't it pure hypocrisy to talk about going after employers and businesses without also talking about vast, fast price inflation? Everybody talks about terrorism when they're talking about undocumented workers. Funny thing is, the only terrorists who've struck us here at home were either homegrown nutjobs, or they entered the USA through an AIRPORT. That's right, they FLEW here, they didn't come huddled in the back of produce trucks or by creeping through the desert at night. While we've been busy with the twin societal circle jerks of Iraq and immigration, we have accomplished exactly nothing in terms of safety in the skies. The man with the virulent TB who flew across several borders & the Atlantic Ocean while his passport was flagged and he was listed on the no-fly list proves this. 100's of billions of dollars spent on Homeland Security; oddly, I read about Mr.TB and didn't feel secure! And the ones I REALLY WANT ANSWERS TO: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE BEACON OF LIGHT? THE HAVEN FOR THE HUDDLED MASSES, YEARNING TO BE FREE? SINCE WHEN DO YOU HAVE TO BE WELL-EDUCATED AND/OR RICH TO COME TO AMERICA? Sorry for shouting that last set, but it seems to me that our society is abandoning things that I was raised to believe are sacred by the truckload and I am deeply alarmed! This whole "let's lock 'em all up and kick 'em all out" mindset is positively un-American, and smells an awful lot like elitism to me. To follow this path would be a dreadful mistake. We have tried to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world in the past, and it just hasn't worked. Why can't we learn from our history?