re: Border wall cuts illegal crossings 80%

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why wouldn't you go through the legal avenues of the citizenship process?

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If you were a laborer from somewhere south of the United States, why would you bother going through the citizenship process? That would be dumb on their part to do so when you don’t really have to and there are essentially no consequences for trying to do it illegally.

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But I did specify seeking to come over "for good," i.e. trying to start a new and better life for the person (and one's family, if applicable). Both are illegal, but one involves trying to do a good thing, illegally. When there's a legal way.

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You asked us to “be the illegal” though. I (The hypothetical immigrant) don’t care about coming over the right way if there is an alternative that will take a fraction of the time and has very low risk of any consequences for me or my family. Heck, my kids are gonna be US citizens as soon as my esposa pops em out on US soil.

You have a few choices. Make it harder for me to get in. Make consequences of me coming in illegally more punitive so that I actually consider doing it legally. Make it easier for those of us who want to work, to do so legally.

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You asked us to “be the illegal” though. I (The hypothetical immigrant) don’t care about coming over the right way if there is an alternative that will take a fraction of the time and has very low risk of any consequences for me or my family.

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No doubt, I did of course set the hypothetical that way, not sure it would be worth answering if I hadn't. And I agree with what you're saying, I'm more curious as to what would be behind the poster's initial thoughts immediately upon making the decision to give it a run. Personally, I'd rather go through what I understand is not necessarily a simple and pleasant process for citizenship, but that's just me spitballing. I'd hate to be constantly concerned and looking over my shoulder for federal pursuers. Like poster did say, that would be the preferable and ideal way to go about it. But for sure, the risks as they are now are worth the reward unless and until, like you mentioned, the following occurs sufficiently....

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Make it harder for me to get in. Make consequences of me coming in illegally more punitive so that I actually consider doing it legally. Make it easier for those of us who want to work, to do so legally.

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I'd also hate to be suddenly taken from my family because I was in the U.S. illegally. That's a pretty unpleasant risk for sure.

Anyhoo, I'm not quite as full of piss and vinegar about it as many are, but I am curious about some of the thought process as to how it's approached once that decision is made to come on up. I do, of course, stand for retooling the policy to make the risk a little more significant, but at the same time better incentivize a decision to go about it legally.