America’s Broken Immigration System – Orange County Register

Immigration opponents often focus on potential future dangers, such as the concern after October 7 that Hamas militants would cross our borders and kill innocent people. But they seem to be much less concerned about many of the actual innocent victims of violent, organized gangs.

The truth of this came home to us when one of us (Agustina) visited the border in McAllen, Texas, to listen to border agents and migrants. Among them was Manuel (not his real name), a man from South America who had just crossed the border with his son. Manuel says he came to the United States because the economic, educational, and security prospects at home were bleak. He wanted a better life. He decided it was worth crossing the southern border. The alternative was a life of misery at home.

The journey for migrants like Manuel is perilous, partly because of the topography and the natural disasters they must endure: deserts, mountains, wild animals, extreme weather. But the greatest threat is man-made. South of the border, cartels intimidate, extort, kidnap and torture migrants trying to reach the U.S. The luckiest migrants are abused but eventually smuggled into the U.S. The less fortunate end up being trafficked as sex slaves. Others are subjected to forced labor or even organ trafficking.

The story Manuel tells is not an unusual one. Near the border, the bus he and his son were riding in was hijacked by cartel members. They kidnapped passengers and demanded ransom in exchange for allowing them to cross and not raping them. Manuel was able to pay, and he and his son were eventually released, but not before they saw other migrants—men, women, and children—being raped. They then managed to cross the border.

What did Manuel and his son do to deserve this fate? Some will answer that Manuel should have come to America “the right way.” By crossing the border, he must have known the risks.

But this answer ignores the fact that it is nearly impossible for most people to legally immigrate to America. We can tell people like Manuel to get in line, but we need to know that it is not a line that leads anywhere.

Even though we don’t know this, Manuel did. He knew that his prospects of working legally in America and becoming a permanent resident were nonexistent. He also knew that asylum seekers can be released on parole and stay for a period of time until their claims are processed. Unable to obtain a visa and fly to an airport, he showed up at the border, as required by law, to claim asylum.

Yes, Manuel knew the risks of crossing the border, he knew the dangers of the cartels, but he chose to come anyway. Desperate and looking for a better life, he undertook the terrifying journey.

Isn’t there something admirable in the choices and actions of individuals like Manuel? Put yourself in his shoes. Imagine if you were born in another country. Wouldn’t you do everything you could to make it to America? Wouldn’t you look for someone here who would hire you and jump at the first job offer? This is what makes our current immigration system illegal.

Our immigration laws simply do not allow most people to get the visas they need if they want to work. Current law recognizes neither the freedom of immigrants to travel and work nor, worse, the rights of Americans to associate and trade with whomever we see fit.

A perverse but predictable result is that innocent and desperate people are pushed into the hands of the cartels. Migrants like Manuel cannot legally enter the U.S. through airports and other ports of entry the way regular travelers do, so they gather at the border and try to cross. The cartels, experts in violence, exploitation and law-evasion, lie in wait.

Manuel’s case is no exception. Cartels now control much of the migrant movement across our southern border, operating in Mexico and increasingly on U.S. soil. Border Patrol agents testified in 2023 about the cartels’ power: In the words of one official, “nobody crosses without paying the cartels.” Human smuggling and trafficking generate more than $13 billion a year for the cartels.

When cartels exploit migrants like Manuel, the migrants have few legal recourses. Because we have declared their attempt to come to the U.S. and work illegal, they are afraid to turn to the authorities for protection.