“U.S. Can’t Trace Foreign Visitors on Expired Visas.” Well, duh. It turns out Smadi, the Dallas terrorist, entered on a tourist visa, rather than a student visa, as originally reported, but the problem is the same — foreign visitors check in but they don’t check out.

In an interesting contrast, this story ran on the front page Monday, the same day there was an editorial inside excoriating Phoenix Sheriff Joe Arpaio for “His indiscriminate neighborhood raids [that] use minor infractions like broken taillights as pretexts for mass immigration arrests.” (My emphasis)

Well, the expired-visa story mentioned that two weeks before his arrest, Smadi was pulled over for — wait for it — “a broken tail light“! (You’d think The Newspaper of Record would have a settled style for whether it’s two words or one.) The sheriff’s deputy did find Smadi’s name on an FBI watchlist, but had no way of knowing he was an illegal alien — because foreign visitors check in but they don’t check out.

So, contrary to the Times, what we need more of is the immigration version of broken-windows policing, which is broken-taillight policing.