At the risk of going straight to OMNI:

The perceived need to check documentation internally is the result of loss of control at the point of entry.

Ideally, when one crosses the border it should be verified that the person is a citizen of the country to which they are traveling or that, if not citizens, they have the proper documents to show that they are known to be traveling in the guest country, have a defined purpose in the country and will comply with local and national laws as necessary while in the country including agreeing to leave when the allotted time is complete. There are processes in place for these functions but they have been unevenly and sporadically applied. We now have a situation in which a not insignificant percentage of the people living here have neither citizenship nor proper permissions and authority to be in the country.

This is not entirely, or maybe even mostly, the fault of the undocumented visitor. It is a failure of our politicians to pass and enforce laws that make sense and are understood and respected. The visitors simply take advantage of an opportunity and now find themselves more and more as outcasts as they are the obvious result for political failures to enforce border laws and regulations.

The currently perceived need to ask for documentation would have never been required if proper processes and procedures had been implemented and enforced consistently in the past. That we find ourselves looking at such unacceptable and drastic "solutions" only magnifies the mess in which we find ourselves. I am afraid that we are at the "Let's do something even if it is wrong stage." Really not good....

So, how to put the toothpaste back in the tube? I have no idea. It is a problem without an obvious solution. Or, maybe even any solution. It will take true leadership. The solution will be one in which shared sacrifices are defined and enumerated. It must be given the teeth of enforceable law. The enforcement must be fair, even-handed, and properly funded and manned. Everyone, or a significant number, must understand the quagmire of past inaction and develop a will to do their part to alleviate it. Our current political climate may prevent it ever happening.

Too bad.