Recently, while filling out paperwork to get on payroll for my job, I came to a form required to verify my legal status. Over previous years, I have vocally participated in the debate over illegal immigration. However, this required documentation was my first actual encounter with our immigration policy.

Since 1986, the federal government has required employers to verify the legal status of their employees. Politicians from both sides of the political spectrum have since embraced this outrageous delegation of government responsibility.

Securing our borders is mostly a federal priority. The Obama administration asserted as much last month when it sued Arizona for its stringent anti-illegal immigration law on the premise that the state is preempting the federal government’s power.

This may be a legally dubious claim. However, regardless of whether the federal government or the states enforce immigration laws, border security is a government responsibility, and the private sector should not be responsible for keeping illegal immigration in check.

There are two main reasons for requiring immigrants to go through the naturalization process. First, because our cultural identity and national cohesion require that immigrants assimilate.

Before becoming citizens, immigrants should learn about our language, our heritage and the rights and privileges that will be bestowed upon them should they become Americans. A country without borders is not really a country.

Secondly, our national security priorities require that we know who is coming into the country.

According to the latest estimates, 92 percent of the cocaine that comes into the country enters along the U.S.–Mexican border. This is the root cause of the violence being spawned by drug cartels in northern Mexico and in U.S. border towns.

As damaging as the drug cartels have been, most concerning is the prospect that terrorist organizations could infiltrate the country through gaps on the border.

Yet, none of these priorities are fulfilled by placing the burden of verifying immigration status on private businesses.

By the time an undocumented immigrant shows up looking for work, he or she has already gotten into the country. And drug dealers and terrorists are unlikely to apply for a job with a construction company or a fast food restaurant.

Furthermore, employers who want to hire illegal immigrants are not going to go through the process of filling out bureaucratic paperwork. They will hire and pay them under the table, allowing companies to pay illegal workers less than the minimum wage and thus price ordinary Americans out of jobs.

The result is that law-abiding companies are left devoting their resources to pointless forms that have absolutely no effect on the number of illegal immigrants coming into the U.S.

If we are going to make employers responsible for immigration enforcement, why not also require them to drug test their employees and enforce drug laws? Why not hold companies accountable if one of their workers commits a robbery, rape, or murder?

All of those offenses are illegal, as is coming into the country without receiving a visa. All of those offenses are also committed by individuals, for which they are punished individually. Illegal immigration should be handled the same way.

Private sector companies, especially small businesses, simply do not have the resources or the responsibility to also be law enforcement agencies.

Instead, the federal government should step up and begin enforcing its own immigration laws. No new laws are needed; we simply need to enforce the statutes already on the books.

Additionally, we should complete and expand the border fence. No amount of armed agents are going to be able to completely seal off the border unless they stand together and hold hands from the Pacific Coast in California to the Gulf Coast in Texas. A border fence would stall potential smugglers until border agents can arrive.

After the border is secured, policymakers should then turn the focus to improving the immigration system. Allowing more immigrants to come into the country, giving greater preference to highly skilled foreigners who will contribute greatly to our economy and establishing a temporary guest worker program are all good ideas that would offer legal venues for immigrants seeking to build better lives for themselves and their families in our great nation.

None of these programs will make a significant difference, though, if enormous gaps remain along the border. Why go through the cumbersome process of applying for a green card when it is easier to penetrate miles of open desert?

Tray Smith is the Opinions Editor of the Crimson White. His column runs on Fridays.