Deportation is not that. If there is no punishment apart from being taken cost-free to the border and pushed over into the country next door, that's actually a case of "don't care if it is done", not "don't want done". Big difference. As I have repeated: deportation is not really a punishment.
Okay, well here's at least a part of your misunderstanding and errant assumptions. Deportation is not just "drop them off at the border and wave goodbye". The US coordinated with agencies in the person's country of origin. If there's no crime involved other than being here illegally, it's largely just the customs branch of that country. If there is a crime involved, then depending on what kind of crime and how high-profile it is, it can involve anything from local law enforcement at the destination point up to coordination with ambassadors, state departments (or their equivalents), and other government officials.
I'll go back to the misbehaving child analogy, in hope that this might help illustrate this. If little Alex is just being a brat, but no real harm done, then it's reasonable that they might just get dropped off at their own house and handed back to the care of their parents. If little Alex bit your kid's finger and caused harm, then you'd likely drop them off and tell Alex's parents about the incident, and leave it to them to punish Alex; this might also include Alex no longer being allowed to visit your house in the future. If little Alex went on a rampage and broke your television, damaged your car, beat the crap out of your kid Pat, and attacked you with a kitchen knife... you might involved the police first, press charges against them, and have the police send Alex back to their parents along with a laundry list of charges and a bill for all of the damages.
So depending on what Alex has done, the 'deportation' could range from simply returning them to their parent's care all the way up to criminal and civil charges and an incident that other families in the vicinity will be aware of - which will affect whether Alex gets to play with ANY kids, and likely impact what other adults think of Alex's parents too.
Really, there's no loss to most deportees from the USA in never being allowed back in again. There's at least dozens of other countries in the world to live in with similar if not better lifestyles available.
So why aren't they going to those other countries in the first place?
It's a matter of misconceptions. Some Americans think that the worst possible thing that could happen to someone is to be tossed out of the almighty and wonderful USA, for whatever reason. In reality, most deportees don't care very much at all. With that in mind, it does free up the possibilities for any immigrants who have a mind to commit serious crimes - they know they can get away with it and if they play their cards right, get a free ride out of Dodge from the sheriff. Fortunately, very very few actually do commit crimes.
This is your own misconception, several of them in fact.
Most Americans don't think deportation is the worst possible thing, we just think that a non-citizen doesn't have an immediate right to stay in the US and be supported by *our* tax dollars; it's their country's responsibility to deal with their bad behavior, we shouldn't have to foot the bill if we don't have to.
A whole lot of deportees *do* care a whole lot about being sent back to the countries that they intentionally left in the first place. Some might not - a travel visa overstay deportation might not give a crap when they get sent back to Singapore, for instance. But if someone screws up their work visa and gets deported, they're out of a job, off the list for potential immigration, and often end up with damage to their reputations in their home country. Some countries will impose their own punishments on their citizens who get deported for committing crimes. A few years back, China was intituting some serious consequences for citizens who were merely ******** while visiting the US, let alone if they messed up bad enough to get involuntarily shipped back and turned over the the Chinese authorities.
As for your "free ride" assumption... I'll direct you back to my first section which covers the fact that this isn't what happens.
You're working from a whole lot of very, very bad assumptions. I don't know if you've been given misinformation somewhere, or if you're just basing this on what you imagine happens. Either way, your notions are simply wrong.
