Congressman Lou Barletta (R-PA) is one of the more thoughtful friends of national sovereignty in the House, where he usefully brings his experience as mayor of a small Pennsylvania town beset with a flood of illegal aliens.

On Tuesday, the House Homeland Security Subcommittee held a hearing on the topic: Subcommittee Hearing: What Does a Secure Border Look Like?. Rep. Barletta used his time questioning witnesses to remind the panel that an estimated 40 percent of illegal aliens were visa overstayers who did not unlawfully cross a border.

“Any state with an international airport is a border state,” he remarked.

Open borders are certainly a continuing evil, particularly given Mexico’s violent drug cartels, but the lack of a visa exit checker system is nearly as bad in terms of ending immigration anarchy.