Debating asylumCreating an Orderly Legal Immigration Structure

Published 20 August 2019

The U.S. government has allowed its asylum and border processing system to become overwhelmed. Central Americans are crossing illegally and often relying on asylum and other processing procedures at the border because they are virtually the only ways for them to enter the United States. The most realistic and humane way to control the border is for Congress and the administration to channel future immigrants into an orderly legal structure for coming to the country.

The U.S. government has allowed its asylum and border processing system to become overwhelmed. Central Americans are crossing illegally and often relying on asylum and other processing procedures at the border because they are virtually the only ways for them to enter the United States.

>David Bier writes for the Cato Institute – a libertarian, pro-immigration think tank —  that after numerous failed attempts to deter the flow or restrict asylum, the most realistic and humane way to control the border is for Congress and the administration to channel future immigrants into an orderly legal structure for coming to the country.

Bier says that five reforms would make the asylum system manageable again and restore control over the border:

1. Humanitarian parole: Waive entry restrictions for Central Americans in the backlogged green card lines and with family legally in the United States.

2. Private refugee sponsorship: Allow U.S. residents and organizations to sponsor refugees from abroad as the State Department had planned in 2016.

3. Guest worker expansion: Expand the H-2A and H-2B seasonal worker programs to year-round jobs for Central Americans and waive the H-2B cap.

4. Legalization: Legalize illegal immigrants who have no serious criminal convictions and let them reunite with their spouses and children, eliminating the network for future illegal immigration.

5. Processing at ports: Remove the cap on asylum seekers at ports of entry, process 100 percent of their claims there, and release them with an employment authorization document contingent on them appearing in court.

These reforms will not stop all asylum seekers, he writes, but they will redirect enough of the flow into other legal channels to make the asylum process manageable again for U.S. authorities.

Bier concludes:

Legal immigration is a proven and effective mechanism to manage migration. The first three legal immigration reforms outlined in this paper deal with each component of the current migration flows: (1) a parole program for families seeking to reunite, (2) a private sponsorship program for refugees fleeing violence, and (3) a work visa program for workers seeking economic opportunity. The last two proposals address the immigrants already at the borders or inside the United States seeking asylum: (4) legalizing the existing population of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers and (5) channeling future asylum seekers to ports of entry.

The reforms outlined in this paper would immediately relieve Border Patrol from having to spend so much of its time dealing with peaceful people seeking a better life in the United States. Awareness of the availability of legal options would create a virtuous cycle of people seeking them out and encouraging others to do so. The legal pathways would divert billions of dollars in smuggling fees away from cartels and criminal organizations and reduce the victimization of immigrants, including many children who pursue an unregulated and dangerous route to the U.S. border. The United States and immigrants seeking a haven here cannot afford another litany of failed efforts to address this humanitarian crisis.