There's plenty of time and effort spent harassing people coming in over the land border too. I expect there would be more people coming in that way without that effort.
I don't think I agree with the current U.S. border policy, but I don't see how we get from where we are to not having one. There is also probably some sense in aligning enforcement with stated policy.
(I'm not sure that last bit is clear, but I mean if the rule says you have to have a visa, it makes sense for the guards/agents/whatever to just enforce that, not try to decide if the visa is really needed in each different situation)
The United States is a nation of immigrants and as a US citizen I have no problem welcoming more people in. One of my all-time favorite poems is The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, made famous by its association with the Statue of Liberty, where it is now stamped on the base of the granite pedestal:
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
At the same time, I work twenty feet from an extremely talented British product manager who wants nothing more than to qualify for a green card and become a US permanent resident. I've watched him jump through hoop after hoop for years, spending thousands of dollars in the process, afraid to travel overseas for a family funeral because of re-entry concerns. Meanwhile he watches hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants cross the border, settle, and start vocally advocating for their rights. My heart breaks sometimes for him and his family. Our system is totally broken and I don't know what the answer is either.
Tell him he's looking at selection bias. The immigrants he sees here represent a very small fraction of those who have tried to enter the US. Those are the few that succeeded in either satisfying or dodging the process, not the bulk that get rejected by it or sit on waiting lists.
He should be comparing himself to the typical outcome of a would-be immigrant (never passing the border at all), not to outliers cherrypicked to only be observed after they have already succeeded.
I don't think I agree with the current U.S. border policy, but I don't see how we get from where we are to not having one. There is also probably some sense in aligning enforcement with stated policy.
(I'm not sure that last bit is clear, but I mean if the rule says you have to have a visa, it makes sense for the guards/agents/whatever to just enforce that, not try to decide if the visa is really needed in each different situation)