After 9/11, we asked readers for suggetions for what could be done. One reader responded with these, saying "Most Are Actions We Should Have Taken Long Ago."

Most of it was still not done.

• “States should repeal, or not pass in the first place, laws relaxing identification requirements that allow illegal aliens to get driver's licenses. If there is a constitutional way for the Congress to preempt such state laws (make it a federal felony for anyone in the United States illegally to operate a motor vehicle?), it should.”
• “States should repeal, or not pass in the first place, "motor-voter" laws that invite non-citizens to register to vote. A more egregious breach of civic security than having aliens participating in American political decisions through illegal voting is hard to imagine. Aliens caught voting in U.S. elections should be prosecuted and deported (whether or not they were in the United States illegally to begin with); such deportation should make them presumptively ineligible to enter the United States in the future. Again, if there is a constitutional way for the Congress to preempt local or state laws that purport to permit non-citizens to vote in local elections, it should.”
• “Make it a crime for a bank to open an account for a foreign national who cannot provide verifiable proof of legal residence in the United States. Enforce against the banks, not just the aliens.”
• “Permit, nay encourage, intelligent profiling by the police generally.”
• “Reinforce the Border Patrol, augmented by Active Army and National Guard units as required, to take control of the Mexican and Canadian borders. Expand the Coast Guard's role in preventing illegal entry from the sea; augment with Navy units and Air Force surveillance if that is what it takes.”
• “Reinforce the INS at other points of entry, to prevent illegal entry. Use of the Armed Forces for this is much more problematic than for Border Patrol, which clearly is national defense, but there should be a way, if that is what it takes.”
• “Aggressively search for, and deport, illegal aliens. Illegal aliens thus deported should be presumptively ineligible for entry into the United States in the future. No exceptions. Enforce employer sanctions strictly. Enlist local law enforcement in the effort.”
• “End all state programs that offer in-state tuition at any state university to any illegal alien "resident" in that state.”
• “Train Foreign Service officers in screening visa applicants at U.S. embassies and consulates. Encourage them to profile intelligently, too. Set clear and stringent standards for granting visas of all types, including visitor visas. Require the State Department to enforce those standards, and monitor it ruthlessly; we cannot assume that our professional diplomats love their country.
  
  (Aside: Change staffing and ambassadorial appointment practices that match appointees to countries by race or ethnicity; rather than send Hispanics to Latin American countries, blacks to African and West Indian countries, Asians to Asian countries and Jews to Israel, we should if anything do the opposite. It is stupid to encourage divided loyalties in those who are supposed to serve our interests abroad. This applies also to INS and the Border Patrol: have you noticed that most of the INS officials cited in the press as responsible for dealing with the Mexican border are Hispanic themselves? If we must over-recruit Hispanics into our border defense force, at least assign them to the Canadian border.)”
• “Keep a central record, easily accessible to law enforcement, of all visas granted. Record all entries into the United States. Record all departures. Implement a system that automatically alerts the INS when the expiration date of a visa arrives and there is no record of the holder's departure. Issue a standard, electronically verifiable, Alien Identification Card to all foreign nationals at legal entry into the United States. Require them to carry it at all times while they are in the country, whatever their visa status, subject to legal penalties up to and including revocation of legal status and deportation for failure to produce it on demand to law enforcement.
  
  Get the word out to law enforcement at all levels that it is not racist to ask to see it in the case of people (stopped or arrested for some other reason) who are obviously foreign. Require them to surrender it on departure, and design it so that on expiration of the visa, or if tampered with, it activates and becomes a locator beacon so that the offending alien can be tracked, apprehended and deported (actually, it would not be a bad idea to have the tracking function active all the time).”
• “Record all apprehensions of attempted illegal entrants; they should be presumed ineligible for visas and legal residence in the United States. Knowing that getting caught trying to sneak in will make it almost impossible to get in legally later should be a deterrent, especially if we make it likely that border jumpers will be caught.
  
  Any case-by-case process for examining such peoples' subsequent visa requests needs to be very stringent and subject to political oversight, so that immigration judges cannot subvert the program through lenient rulings.”
• “Make an example through ruthless prosecution of INS, Border Patrol and other officials who are complicit in violations of the immigration laws.
  
  As noted above, many are Hispanic themselves and no doubt might be swayed to help their fellows get in. Harsh punishment will help them overcome the temptation.”