[coldtea]

>This is not right. We don't make arrests just based on harms to society, we also consider ease of enforcement and likelihood of winning in court. Governments generally don't pass laws that are impossible to enforce, as it hurts their credibility as a source of power.

Which is inconsequential to the parent's argument, as arresting illegal immigrants does not fall into that category.

>As a result, some types of crimes that cause far more harm to society go entirely unpunished, where easy targets face the full weight of the law.

That happens all the time, yes (actually there's an ancient quote about this "Laws are like spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones").

[speedplane]

>> We don't make arrests just based on harms to society, we also consider ease of enforcement and likelihood of winning ...

> Which is inconsequential to the parent's argument, as arresting illegal immigrants does not fall into that category.

The parent was saying that we enforce laws that cause social harm, and that's why we arrest immigrants. I am suggesting that social harm is not the only reason we arrest immigrants, we do it because it's easy. If social harm was the primary concern, we would be focusing on far more harmful criminals.