Laws that actually don't seem to be working to significantly deter something should be revisited to "architect" a different solution. Assuming you're interested in results.
What I said was that deportation apparently isn't working. Where did I say we should quit enforcing laws? Also, what about the second part of my comment where I asked what else he wants them to do?
And the issue is that that's just extremely subjective. Hundreds of people are assaulted or murdered every day in this country in spite of laws saying how bad that is. Are any of these laws that are in place actually deterring the act itself? The penalty for breaking them can help make things safer after the fact, but you'll still have to have people committing the act in the first place.
Relative to how many people would be assaulted/murdered without the laws? Probably. A lot of experts (I'm not trying to imply that it's all of them) suggest that deportation deters illegal immigration and/or crime committed by illegal immigrants significantly less than laws against murder deter murder. Studies are important to tease out which laws are ineffective and which aren't.
And I would argue that the number of people who still choose to follow proper immigration procedures provides some evidence that immigration laws still provide a deterrence effect as well. Otherwise a lot more people would be flooding across borders with no regard for the consequences, no?
Deportation is not to deter. The purpose is to ship their ass out so they can not commit. Sort of why the wall is needed to make it stick. Brick , laser or hyper zapper.
Like this guy from Ohio -- what amazing goal was accomplished by deporting him? http://fox8.com/2017/07/18/ohio-father-of-four-deported-back-to-mexico/
The same goal a cop accomplishes if he gives someone doing 80 in a 60 a ticket even though the guy has a "I support the police" bumper sticker on his car. Deterrent, that's what. If everyone knows that they can come here illegally and stay as long as they don't join MS13 they'll just keep coming. Pretty sure the guy in your link has had 2 more kids since he was ordered out in 2011.
Possibly? I'm honestly not sure. It might be that the difficulty of the journey is what caps the amount of people, not the ICE agents and threat of deportation, or that the number of people who see starting over in a new country where they have no rights and don't speak the language is not much larger than the number that already cross in. It is interesting that this guy had been deported 20 times--deportation may be nothing more than an inconvenience. That's why my suggestion is that, rather than a huge deportation crackdown, arrest people who commit crimes against others, throw them before a judge and put them in jail. That might do more to prevent this kind of crime than deporting them.
Are there enough contractors to fire for the wall to be built? Are there any contractors that do not use Hispanic labor?