Border control, Florida-style

The sheriff in Bay County, Fla., has found a simple but effective way to capture illegal aliens.

Five or six patrol cars quickly pull up to a construction site … and wait.

Invariably, several illegal aliens run away. The deputies then chase down the runners, arresting them if they do things like trespass or drive away recklessly. Aliens who are in this country illegally are then referred to immigration authorities.

“It’s not wrong for them to run, but it’s not wrong for us to chase them either,” said Sheriff Frank McKeithen.

In Florida, as in most places, it is illegal to knowingly hire illegal immigrants. In Florida, as in most places, illegal immigrants are often knowingly hired.

Sheriff McKeithen’s Panhandle county is undergoing a building boom. Developers are tearing down cheap spring-break motels and replacing them with fancy condos.

Lots of illegals are doing the work. Or were doing the work.

One illegal immigrant, Jose Madrid, told the Associated Press, “We immigrants, we are leaving Panama City. … The companies don’t want to hire illegal people. Now they’re only hiring those with papers.”

Uh, isn’t that the idea?