ICE agents working in conjunction with the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Mississippi carried out on Wednesday "the largest single-state immigration enforcement operation in our nation's history."  Six hundred eighty illegal aliens were detained at seven food processing plants across six cities in Mississippi: Bay Springs, Carthage, Canton, Morton, Pelahatchie, and Sebastapol.

In a just nation, this story would hardly crack the headlines.  "In other breaking news, it's 95 degrees in August in Mississippi."  But unfortunately, enforcing the law is considered a noteworthy event.  Full of controversy.  Juicy. 

A nation without borders is not a nation.  A nation that doesn't enforce its immigration laws shows a complete lack of respect for its citizens. 

Illegal immigration is far from a victimless crime.  Every single illegal alien has already, by definition, demonstrated a complete disregard for the laws of the United States.  By definition, every illegal alien in the United States is already a criminal.  Many of them don't stop there.  One third of our federal prison population comprises illegal aliens.  In Arizona, one of the few states where the legal status of prisoners is available, illegal aliens are at least 142% more likely to commit a crime than other Arizonans. 

The fiscal cost of illegal immigration is immense.  Illegal aliens cost U.S. taxpayers $120 billion each year.  Sixty-three percent of non-citizen households access welfare programs, compared to just 35% of native households. 

Illegal immigration drives down the wages of American citizens.  One of the most basic laws of economics is that when you have more of something, the value of it drops.  When more people enter the labor force, the value of labor goes down. 

The people most negatively affected by illegal immigration tend to be lower-income black Americans.  A Harvard study found that "a 10 percent immigrant-induced increase in the supply of a particular skill group reduced the wages of black workers in that group by 4 percent, lowered the employment rate of black men by 3.5 percentage points, and increased the incarceration rate of blacks by almost a percentage point." 

How much more would Koch Foods Inc. have to pay local Mississippians if it didn't have unfettered access to illegal alien labor?  A lot more.  The best way to increase workers' wages is not to increase the minimum wage; it's to reduce immigration substantially. 

Jackson mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, an avowed Democratic Socialist, called the ICE raids "dehumanizing" and said they are "ineffective as a tactic for protecting citizens from potential harm."  If the mayor was interested in protecting American citizens from harm, he would support the enforcement of the law. 

Apparently, the mayor believes that any time someone sets foot on American soil, that person ought to be able to stay for life.  But what if everyone thought like the mayor?  What if everyone who made it to America got to stay?  How many people would come?  How long would we last as a nation?  These are serious questions that apparently aren't worth answering. 

The rule of law is the foundation of our nation.  If we decide that we're just going to look the other way while millions of people break our laws to come here, we will deteriorate as a nation. 

The bottom line is this: no one is above the law — not illegal aliens, not the businesses that hire them.  The law must be upheld and enforced.  Our congressional representatives must do better at prioritizing the interests of citizens over foreigners and corporations, but that's a story for another day. 

James Tulp hosts The James Tulp Show weekdays from 2 to 4 P.M. on WYAB 103.9 FM.  Check him out on his Facebook page at facebook.com/jamestulp and Twitter at twitter.com/jamestulp.