Last updated on October 1, 2025
Immigration is the foundation of America—a mutually beneficial relationship that has brought success to our country and immigrants for centuries.
However, even the strongest foundations have their breaking points.
Indeed, for the past half-decade, unauthorized migrants have traversed life-threatening environments to avoid the legal system, with half a million people entering the U.S in one year alone.
But America and its problematic border policies endangers immigrants and the country before, during, and after their arrival. The solution though is not an entirely open border, it’s to encourage legal immigration and make it easier to legally enter America.
Before Arrival
Since the 90s, the U.S border strategy has been to concentrate surveillance in urban and safer parts of the border, while leaving more dangerous paths into the U.S unmonitored, hoping that the surveillance would stop unauthorized immigration in milder regions, while the harsh environment would be enough to deter unauthorized entry in those regions.
However, in fragmenting the border like so, the U.S has failed in stopping unauthorized immigration. Instead, it has funneled desperate migrants to take the unmonitored dangerous routes which have killed over 80,000.
To solve this, the U.S should consider expanding its surveillance infrastructure along the entirety of the border, not just specific areas. This would solve the root of this funneling issue, disincentivizing and shifting unauthorized immigrants away from dangerous routes and towards the multitude of legal immigration programs like work visas or Safe Mobility Offices.
Those programs aren’t always perfect though, so alongside non-fragmented surveillance, the U.S must put more funding towards expanding legal pathways and reform the policies to make it easier to legally enter the country.
During Arrival
Immigrants enter unauthorized seeking the American dream, but for those who even make it across, they are met with anything but that. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, will track down, arrest, and detain migrants to excessive lengths.
As such, unauthorized immigrants live in constant fear of ICE knocking on their doorstep. For the 36,000 people and counting who get that call, a nightmare awaits.
ICE crams suspected unauthorized immigrants in overcrowded detention centers with inadequate medical care; 33,000 unanswered complaints of sexual and physical abuse; insufficient food and water; lack of basic sanitation; freezing conditions; or lack of enough space to even lie down and sleep.
Nobody should ever have to go through such brutality. With no solutions in sight, we must ensure ICE doesn’t have anybody to detain by discouraging unauthorized immigration and encouraging legal immigration with increased surveillance.
After Arrival
Even after making it through the dangerous routes and averting detainment, unauthorized immigrants are increasingly met by a harsh reality: from sectors like healthcare, education or employment, they can’t reap the benefits of our systems.
Take healthcare, for example. Unauthorized immigrants are ineligible for most health insurance programs such as Medicaid, and even when eligible, many avoid enrolling out of fear of deportation. Half of unauthorized immigrants are uninsured compared to less than one in five for their legal counterparts.
Devastatingly, Americans are 40% more likely to die when uninsured.
Encouraging legal immigration can ensure all migrants have access to healthcare and contribute to the system’s sustainability.
Ultimately, a secure border does not mean an anti-immigrant border. Securing it alongside the proper reforms can actually make the immigrant experience safer, before, during, and after arriving to the U.S.
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