Originally Posted by Rochard

The parents are arrested and the children separated and detained. It goes utterly downhill from there. In some cases the children are separated from their parents and then.... lost. The children get "lost in the system" and when the parent's status is resolved, be it they get a visa or are sent home, they are not united with their children.

We should not be in this business of detaining people at all.

We need to treat this as it is - a serious crime. Anyone found in the United States illegally should receive a fine and be deported as quickly as possible such as twenty-four to forty-eight hours. The second time they are caught in the US it should be mandatory jail time, one year, with stiffly increasing prison sentences from there on. Children in all cases should be quickly deported and handed over to the government of their respective countries.