The border wall started out as part of a wholistic immigration enforcement plan, but it has evolved into a larger element than it deserves to be. After all, an estimated half of illegals arrive legally but then overstay their visas. But a wall is a physical thing and therefore easy to mold into a symbol, as candidate Trump did to great effect.

Currently the Republicans are engaged in a quickie throw-together immigration bill, and reports say the wall and DACA amnesty are the big chips being played. Here are a couple recent headlines indicative of the deal:

Republicans unveil DACA citizenship-border wall compromise bill, CNN, June 14

House GOP immigration bill includes pathway to citizenship for ‘Dreamers’ and border wall funds, CNBC, June 14

Any amnesty for illegal aliens is a travesty for a society that imagines itself to be a “nation of laws,” but if a deal is to be done, at least something worthwhile should be gotten for devaluing citizenship once again. The fact is that a swap consisting of a border wall for DACA absolution is a terrible deal, pure and simple. A wall will be hung up for years as legal obstructions are strung out by liberal lawyers. A DACA amnesty, on the other hand, will be quickly rolled out and goodies awarded to foreign citizens (who are called “kids” by members of Congress even though their average age is 24).

Such an amnesty will lay the precedent for future pardons, and may effectively raise the age of birth citizenship (a constitutional misapplication anyway) to 16. And we shouldn’t forget that the DACA amnesty was an unlawful executive action of President Obama. He must be having a big laugh at the feckless, amnesiac Republicans.

If there must be a DACA amnesty, the GOPs should at least get something worthwhile in return, not a semi-effective wall that might be built sometime in the future. Why don’t the Republicans demand universal E-Verify? It wouldn’t cost $25 billion, could be set up relatively quickly, would protect American jobs and would actually work to dissuade future illegal border crossers.

An illustration of the unseriousness of the current amnesty push is the lack of E-Verify as a major item in the debate — probably because it would work better than any other single policy change.