No greater evidence exists that the nation's immigration system is broken than the case of Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino, the undocumented migrant alleged to have gone on a killing spree in Kansas and Missouri, which ended with his capture Wednesday in New Florence, Mo.

Serrano-Vitorino, a Mexican national, is a repeat violator of U.S. immigration laws. He was deported in 2004, only to return and be detained in June and, again, in September in Overland Park, Kan. Local police did exactly as they should by submitting Serrano's fingerprints to a database that prompted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to issue a detainer request.

That should have started proceedings leading to his removal. But the ICE mistakenly sent the detainer request not to Overland Park authorities, but to the sheriff's office in surrounding Johnson County.

"ICE regrets the error," an ICE statement said.

Many big questions remain unanswered, particularly regarding any criminal background that could have flagged authorities about the extremely dangerous person in their midst. It's clear, however, that another round of anti-immigrant bashing is in store as Republican presidential hopefuls use Serrano's case to whip up national anger.

Last summer, undocumented immigrant Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez was in police custody in San Francisco, Calif. but was released after another miscommunication between ICE and local authorities. After his release, Lopez-Sanchez shot and killed 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle as she strolled on a San Francisco pier. National outrage followed over the issue of "sanctuary cities."

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump can be expected to make ample fodder of the Serrano case when he visits St. Louis on Friday. ICE has handed him yet another perfectly timed issue to exploit as he calls for ridiculous measures such as the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

America doesn't need more hysteria. We do need thoughtful constructive solutions to address our broken immigration system. Building a wall might sound great, but it would do nothing to address the 11.5 million immigrants already residing in America illegally.

The driving force behind the immigration problem is employers' lack of access to low-wage labor for jobs that Americans won't do. Migrants have little or no realistic way to get work visas. Thus, the illegal system continues to thrive.

ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol are understaffed and overwhelmed. Authorities spend far too much time chasing otherwise law-abiding undocumented migrants when they should be focused on protecting us from people like Serrano-Vitorino and Lopez-Sanchez, who mingle easily among the migrants who swarm by the hundreds across the border each day.

No, immigration reform wouldn't halt all crazed killers. But it would establish a more orderly process so that law enforcers can stop hunting hard-working migrants and, instead, focus their attention on the bad guys.

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Photo credit: Ryan Bavetta