The liberal media were recently barking in concert that entering the United States illegally is not a criminal offense, but merely a civil violation punishable only with a fine.  As usual with that pack of jackals, they were passing off a half-truth as the whole – more fake news.

Here's what the law says:

8 U.S. Code § 1325 - Improper entry by alien

(a) Improper time or place; avoidance of examination or inspection; misrepresentation and concealment of facts

Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.

(b) Improper time or place; civil penalties

Any alien who (1) is apprehended while entering (or attempting to enter) the United States at a time or place other than as designated by immigration officers shall be subject to a civil penalty of at least $50 and not more than $250 for each such entry (or attempted entry); or

(2) twice the amount specified in paragraph (1) in the case of an alien who has been previously subject to a civil penalty under this subsection. Civil penalties under this subsection are in addition to, and not in lieu of, any criminal or other civil penalties that may be imposed.

As you can readily see, the liberal media's selective reading of the law ignores the criminal penalties available.  Paragraph (a) does indeed provide for imprisonment as well as fines.

Now that we've disposed of that fake news, may I recommend the following be enacted by federal authorities?  Federal detention facilities should be erected in our western deserts – perhaps one in West Texas near the ghost town of Shafter; another in the Bootheel of New Mexico near the anti-terror training center in Playas; a third on the northern edge of the federal bombing range south of Gila Bend, Ariz.; and one perhaps adjacent to the California State Prison west of El Centro.  All are close to the border in harsh, inhospitable terrain.

Operations should be modeled on the Maricopa County Jail tent concept created by former sheriff Joe Arpaio: no air-conditioning, perhaps circulating fans only, with other amenities nonexistent.  The menu should also follow Sheriff Joe's: bologna sandwiches and Kool-Aid.  English classes should be required, and their sole TV-radio should be closed-circuit bilingual educational programs.

And who would the detainees be?  Why, those males and females apprehended as violators of Paragraph (a) above after being adjudicated by a federal magistrate (whose ranks need to be expanded) as being in violation of that law.  We are, by and large, not a vengeful people, so we could cut first-time violators some slack, giving them 90 days rather than six months.  On completion of their sentences, detainees could be transported to the border, given bus tickets to their homes of record, and warned that if they are apprehended again, ever, they will draw a full two-year sentence under the same conditions, no exceptions.  The bus ticket home is the carrot after at least 90 days of the stick.

Traffickers and coyotes are currently eligible for much longer sentences under federal law, not included here for the sake of brevity.  However, they should be sentenced to the same harsh facilities with no bus ticket carrot at the end of sentence – just dumped across the border with the stern warning that any future violation will be double their just served sentence.  Five years or so of bologna and Kool Aid might dissuade some from future smuggling activities.

One reason I specify tent city impermanence to the centers is that such a program should be self-limiting.  After thousands of these detainees spent three to six months enduring such harsh conditions and returned to their home towns and villages describing where they'd been and why, there should be far more soul-searching before others, having heard such tales of punitive Yankee retribution, would set out seeking the big payoff in El Norte.  And those skeptics who doubted our will and tested it again might find their second, longer stay more convincing, discouraging further attempts by them and others.

What about women with children?  This is a tough one, as we've all seen in the past few weeks.  However, we still need to demonstrate the will to enforce our borders.  They should first have the law explained to them about misrepresenting facts concerning claims of political persecution and warned that they can turn back now or be detained with their children until their claims are verified by American embassy and consular employees in their native countries.  Staffs of those entities should be beefed up to allow for teams to be recruited and formed for this purpose.  Congress should change the law to make this possible.  All detained illegal Mexican females with children should be returned to Mexico immediately with stern warnings of harsh incarceration should they return.  Mexican males and females without children should be handled as previously described to set the example for the rest.

Tough?  Harsh?  Hard?  You bet, but look where all these years of trying to be reasonable have gotten us.  With such a program in place, even if their corrupt governments want to dump their poor on the overburdened American welfare system, the poor won't want to risk it.  What are those governments going to do: march them to the yanqui border at gunpoint?

Look at North Korea: years of polite negotiations gained us nothing but contempt; yet after little more than a year of hard-nose reality, the Norks came begging.  We can do the same with illegal immigration.