“why don’t people just immigrate legally?”
It presumes that people are actively choosing to NOT pursue that path. As if most migrants are faced with two equally easy options- enter legally or illegally- and they actively choose the latter.
As a consequence, it implies that migrants lack some kind of innate moral code if they keep choosing unlawful border crossing. Even if you ignore someone’s complete ignorance on how immigration functions (that’s another story,) it’s revealing a prejudice.
Because there are two possible explanations why someone who is highly motivated to work in the US would immigrate illegally. One, the legal avenues are so arduous and confusing and lengthy that people aren’t incentivized to take them. Or two, there’s something inherent in these individuals that makes them inclined to break the law.
This is why it drives me crazy when people whine about migrants exploiting asylum or stealing SSNs to work here. We could create the circumstances where these behaviors aren’t necessary! We could open legal options for immigration! But many people are so committed to their primitive ideas of punishment that they’ll never see it.
Plus those immigrants with stolen SSN numbers are paying into a system that is very unlikely will benefit them in the future. The money is being withheld and sent to Social Security to pay for people who are collecting NOW. Who could be elderly, or unable to work due to medical conditions, or minors.
My mother benefited from Social Security after her father died when she was 5. She found him dead on the couch. He was buried on her older brother’s birthday (who also received SS money for his care. Their mother collected & spent it on their needs). That money was used for her education, clothes, food, etc. So I get pretty prickly when people try to withhold these benefits from people who are entitled to receive them - no matter what their age.
