“Why don’t they just come legally?” It’s a question often asked in good faith by those trying to understand immigration patterns. The underlying assumption is straightforward: if there are legal pathways to immigration, why would anyone choose to break the law?
This question deserves a thoughtful answer – one that examines both individual choices and the system that shapes them.
A System Designed for Different Times
Today’s core U.S. immigration laws were created in 1965 and 1990 – decades before our current global realities. These laws established a system that:
- Prioritizes family relationships with U.S. citizens and permanent residents
- Offers limited employment-based pathways, mostly for highly-skilled workers
- Provides humanitarian protection only under narrow circumstances
- Sets per-country caps that create massive backlogs for high-demand countries
What this system doesn’t provide is equally important – there are virtually no pathways for essential workers without family connections or advanced degrees, regardless of labor market needs or individual circumstances.
When No Legal Path Exists
For the majority of would-be immigrants, the uncomfortable truth is that no legal pathway exists – not because they haven’t “waited their turn” or “filled out the right forms,” but because current laws simply don’t include them.
The immigration system offers no viable options for families facing dire poverty, food insecurity, or lack of basic necessities. Parents watching their children go hungry, communities devastated by natural disasters, or families without access to essential healthcare find themselves in an impossible position. Under current law, economic hardship—no matter how severe—rarely qualifies someone for humanitarian protection.
Additionally, those fleeing generalized violence in their communities often discover they don’t qualify for asylum, which requires proving targeted persecution based on specific protected grounds. Families under threat from gangs, cartels, or widespread criminal violence typically learn that these dangers—despite their life-threatening nature—don’t meet the narrow legal definitions that would allow legal entry.
The system also fails those seeking to reunite with family members who don’t qualify as “immediate relatives” under immigration law, creating separations that can last decades. Workers filling essential roles in agriculture, construction, caregiving, and service industries find themselves excluded from work visa programs that heavily favor those with advanced degrees or specialized skills, regardless of market demand for their labor.
The Human Reality Behind the Statistics
When legal pathways are closed, people face impossible choices:
Maria’s Story: “My partner abused me both mentally and physically. I had a child and was pregnant with another. I didn’t have years or days to make a decision. I had minutes – and crossing illegally was the only decision I could make for my children’s future.”
Ernesto’s Experience: “After the gang killed my brother for refusing to pay ‘rent’ on our small store, they came for me next. Police said they couldn’t protect me. The U.S. embassy said economic hardship and crime weren’t grounds for asylum. I had three days to leave or be killed.”
Diana’s Dilemma: “I’ve been separated from my husband for 12 years waiting for his visa to process. The pandemic pushed the timeline back another 5 years. Our children are growing up without their father. Is it wrong to want our family together before our kids are adults?”
A System That Creates Its Own Problems
Our current immigration system:
- Creates decade-long backlogs even for those who qualify for legal pathways
- Offers no options for essential workers despite economic demand for their labor
- Sets unreachable standards for asylum that don’t match real-world dangers
- Imposes 3 and 10-year re-entry bans that trap people in undocumented status, as leaving to “get in line” legally means years of family separation
- Makes legal entry impossible for most while economic and security needs create powerful incentives to migrate
Looking Beyond “Law-Breaking”
Understanding these realities doesn’t mean advocating for open borders or dismissing the importance of immigration laws. Rather, it means recognizing that our current system forces impossible choices on people with legitimate reasons to migrate.
Immigration experts and attorneys regularly encounter individuals and families who have exhausted every possible legal avenue before considering irregular migration. Many spend years researching options, saving for consultations, and pursuing any potential pathway. The heartbreaking reality is that for most, no amount of waiting, paperwork, or good-faith efforts will create a legal option where none exists under current law. This systematic exclusion of otherwise hardworking, tax-paying individuals who could contribute positively to American communities reveals fundamental flaws in the immigration framework itself. The issue isn’t people unwilling to follow rules—it’s a rulebook that offers no viable path forward for millions with legitimate reasons to migrate, from family reunification to fleeing credible dangers or meeting crucial workforce needs.
So What Do We Do?
The realities of our broken immigration system demand more than just acknowledgement—they require action. So what can we do?
First, we need to engage in honest, fact-based conversations about immigration that move beyond political talking points. Simply advocating for “enforcement” without addressing systemic flaws, or calling for “compassion” without practical solutions, leads nowhere.
Mass deportation of millions who have built lives in our communities is neither humane nor economically viable. Such approaches would devastate industries, separate families with American children, and cost taxpayers billions while failing to address why people migrate in the first place.
Instead, meaningful reform requires:
- Creating accessible legal pathways that match our economic needs, particularly for essential workers
- Clearing the extreme backlogs that keep families separated for decades
- Modernizing our asylum system to reflect contemporary dangers people flee
- Developing earned legalization options for long-term residents already contributing to our society
- Investing in addressing root causes of migration
Change begins with each of us—by learning the facts about our immigration system, challenging misconceptions in our communities, supporting organizations doing direct work with immigrant populations, and communicating with elected officials about the need for practical, humane solutions.
By rejecting both enforcement-only approaches and unrealistic open borders, we can build an immigration system that honors both our need for security and our identity as a nation that has always been strengthened by immigration.
This post is part of our ongoing series examining immigration policy through the lens of human experience. Follow our blog for more stories that illuminate the complex realities behind immigration headlines.