According to data given to the Washington Times by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, there is a champion illegal immigrant who has shown himself to be the most persistent border jumper in the world.

The unnamed illegal alien has been deported 44 times in 15 years. This means he has crossed the border illegally at least that many times.

The runner-up was ousted 40 times from 2001 to 2015. No. 3, 4 and 5 on the list were deported 35, 34 and 31 times, respectively, according to data provided to The Washington Times by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

While those are the most extreme cases, repeat-illegal immigrants were back in the news this week after police said a twice-deported man was driving drunk in Indiana on Sunday morning when he plowed into pro football player Edwin Jackson and his Uber driver, killing them both.

President Trump tweeted about the “disgraceful” death and called the killing “one of many such preventable tragedies.”

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, one of the Republicans’ chief negotiators in the current immigration debate, said the fatal crash should be a wake-up call.

“People are dying as a result of criminals taking advantage of the porous nature of the border, and we need to stop it,” Mr. Cornyn said. “A lot of that has to do with improving our border security. And it’s not just about barriers. It’s about technology. It’s about personnel and creating the systems that are necessary to stop more of that.”

Every death of an American at the hands of an illegal alien is an unnecessary death. Whether the death occurs deliberately, as in the case of Kate Steinle, whose killer was tried in the illegal -friendly jurisdiction of California and was found innocent of murder, or accidentally, these tragedies are preventable. And the responsibility for these deaths lies with the federal government. The government does not take these deportation orders seriously enough. If they did, they would make it a felony punishable by prison time if a deportee is caught sneaking back into the US.

The House passed Kate's Law, in memory of Steinle, that provides severe penalties for those deportees who are caught inside our borders. House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte wants to include Kate's law, that the Senate has failed to take up, with other immigration measures being considered as part of the budget deal in the Senate.

“While no legislation can prevent every tragic situation, Congress has a duty to take every action possible to mitigate this harm and danger,” Mr. Goodlatte said in a statement to The Times.

His plan also includes the Davis-Oliver Act, which would require localities to cooperate with deportation efforts, pushing back against the growing number of sanctuaries that protect illegal immigrants.

Andrew R. Arthur, resident fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and a former immigration judge, said prison time is critical.

“The prospect of five years of slammer time for illegal re-entry is a strong disincentive,” he said. “The vast majority of individuals who enter the U.S. illegally who aren’t smugglers are coming to the United States to work. If they are in jail, they’re not able to work to provide for either themselves or their family.”

He said prison time could also take some of the smugglers out of action because it’s easier to make cases against them for illegal re-entry.

But that requires prosecutors willing to take the cases.

There are 192 other countries in the world that have the sovereign right to control their borders - to say who gets to come in and who must stay out. Why is there so much opposition to policies practiced without much criticism in every other country in the world?

The US still has the most generous legal immigration policy in the world. Shouldn't that be enough? Why should illegal aliens receive favored treatment over the 2 million other people around the world who are patiently waiting to enter the US legally? This is "social justice"? 

I don't know if Trump's Wall will solve the problem. I suspect that those who want to enter illegally will find a way over, under, through it, or around it. But those who come here should know that once deported, they face prison time for trying to come back. Perhaps that, more than a wall, will deter more illegals from crossing the border.