Illegal immigration does not create queues or waitlists for legal immigration.
But I'll be honest: between the uncited numbers, the clear-eyed, neutral potted history, the italics, and the all-caps "LEGAL," I'm starting to think it would be foolish not to take your argument seriously.
This "they did bad stuff so we have to do worse stuff" idea strips the people doing the second bad thing of their agency. That's false; they have agency, and can choose to do better.
Immigration laws are like any other licensing or permitting regime. Controlling "who" and "how many" is the whole point. Making legal immigration easier doesn't solve the problem, it defeats the purpose.
The laws should produce friction but the right friction in the right places. There are too many arbitrary and difficult processes in the US immigration system that keep great people out of the US.
In other words, completely inaccessible to many people who would like a better life and are willing to work but lack opportunities in their native country.
Just because it was achievable for you doesn't mean it is achievable for everyone.
So? No one is entitled to immigrate to the US. It is very much supposed to not be achievable for literally everyone but only for those where it will be a net positive for the country.
And it's perfectly normal that the country where the most people want to immigrate to will also have higher barriers.
> And it's perfectly normal that the country where the most people want to immigrate to will also have higher barriers.
In my country, I've not heard a lot of people expressing the wish to visit, let alone immigrate to the US for quite some time now.
And as a reminder of what country we're all talking about here, that'd be the one with the highest number of school shootings in the world, and the least political action and drive to do anything material about it, because, you know, emotional neanderthals gotta have their guns.
What sheltered well off ideologues say in their bubbles is irrelevant when it comes to determining what country people from around the world want to immigrate to. Historically, the US has been THE country where people want to be and I have yet to see any evidence that that has changed. If people would no longer want to come to the US then these changes to the immigration policies would also not affect anyone.
