Judging from the responses we have received to articles published in Russian Bazaar, many of our readers support the White House’s plan to erect a barrier along the Mexican border in order to prevent illegal immigrants from entering our country. People sincerely believe that this measure will help solve the problem.

I, however, am of a different opinion. The “Great American Wall” is nothing more than a colossal waste of government funds. Why do I doubt the viability of the “project of the century?”

Many of our readers most probably have not noticed that the White House and Congress are trying to draw society’s attention away from the fact that of the current army of illegal immigrants, four million entered the United States legally. These people did not have to crawl on their stomachs across the U.S.-Mexican border or be secreted across in the trunk of a smuggler’s car. They were granted their student, tourist or work visas at U.S. consulates in their home countries. They flew to the United States on comfortable planes or arrived on ocean liners. When the exit date on their visas arrived, these people decided not to return home. Note, however, that all talk at the government level and in the mass media is only about gaps in cordons to which illegal immigrants flock. Those who overstay their visas are spoken about only in a low voice, if not in a whisper.

Meanwhile, as USA Today points out, the U.S. government has not maintained strict records about this group of illegal immigrants in decades. Additionally, the immigration service (formerly the INS, now the USCIS) never had and still does not have any information regarding the many thousands of immigrants who decided to return home, and thus avoid penalties but remained under the immigration service’s radar. It turns out this is quite easy to do. The most striking example is that four of the 19 hijackers who struck New York and the Pentagon – the future terrorists, including their leader Mohammed Atta – encountered no problems while living in the United States on expired visas, relinquishing them only to return again.

One would think that after the tragic events of September 2001 everything would have changed fundamentally, but not so, my friends. Everything has remained as it was.

A most interesting and instructive report from Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Richard Skinner states that of the 301,046 leads Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had on foreigners suspected of overstaying their visas, only 4,164 investigations were conducted and 671 arrests were made. What’s more, ICE investigators only scrutinized those foreigners who had violated the law and were in jail. The rest remained untouched.

Generally speaking, it’s next to impossible to verify the legal residency of over 300,000 foreigners. A total of 50 investigators at the ICE follow up on such leads. Do they really have the power to take measures against 300,000 illegal immigrants?

Michael Garcia, former director of the ICE, admitted that his officers could only investigate those overstayers who “represented a clear danger to society.” The rest were left in peace and allowed to continue living in the country without fear of deportation.

Over two years ago, the Department of Homeland Security announced with great pomp the creation of a modern electronic system based on biometrics called US-VISIT, which was to be used to register foreigners arriving and leaving the United States. Just to refresh your memory, the system makes it possible to take digital photographs of all those arriving in the country, take thumbprints, and record their passport data. This information is then compared with a database containing details of people suspected of terrorism or some other criminal activity. Asa Hutchinson, the former second in command at the Department of Homeland Security, promised that by using US-VISIT, his officers could know with certainty which foreigners decided to overstay their visas.

However, the bureaucrat’s optimism turned out to be premature. No, no, it’s not that modern technology betrayed us; it’s the people themselves who betrayed us. First of all, the majority of visitors from Canada, as well as Mexican citizens planning to spend only a short time in this country, were exempt from US-VISIT. However, what could keep a Mexican citizen from remaining in the United States for a longer period? Exactly: nothing and no one. Second of all, US-VISIT is operational at only 12 airports and three sea ports. At the 154 entry points on the northern and southern borders, reports USA Today, the system is not in place. This gives illegals the opportunity to leave the United States without having their information entered in the database of visa violators.

Last year, the Department of Homeland Security conducted trials using new technology meant to help keep track of citizens of other countries who enter and leave the United States. It works this way: at border points, foreigners are given special identification devices. These devices hold coded microchips that can be read easily by the department’s computers to find the holder’s name, country of residence, biometric data, and entry and exit dates.

I have no knowledge of the results of this trial, so it is too early to judge its practical value.

Meanwhile, official Washington is clearly not inclined to hope for technological barriers to illegal immigration, focusing instead on a physical barrier. If there is anyone who is happy with this turn of events, it is large Pentagon contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, which have already bid on the “project of the century.” How could anyone pass up the opportunity to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars that flow in of their own accord?

And for me, the ignorant one, the question is: What is the point of these grand, twenty-first century feats of engineering if millions of potential illegal immigrants will reach us if not through the back door, then through the front?

The conclusion is clear. Until our state security bodies create a reliable method for controlling legal entry into out of the country, investigating only “especially dangerous” illegal immigrants will not solve the problem. We’re only throwing money to the wind.