Experts say government policies can either encourage or prevent illegal immigration.

Potential illegal immigrants watch U.S. policy changes and will not risk embarking on a dangerous and expensive trip if they will not be able to stay in the United States or be detained and deported, experts say.

Policies that allow migrants to cross the border and stay long term inside the United States will encourage them to undertake a hazardous journey, even if it makes them indebted to smugglers, said Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies.

During the week leading up to the end of Title 42, Bensman was filming migrants illegally crossing the border in Matamoros, Mexico, over the Rio Grande River into Brownsville, Texas.

It was probably the hottest of the red hot zones along the border, with thousands and thousands of Venezuelans crossing with no resistance or opposition on the U.S. side, Bensman said in an interview for EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program.

He recorded footage of huge groups of migrants swimming across the Rio Grande and going right over the razor wire fence into the United States unimpeded, where they were processed.

End of Title 42

Title 42 was a Trump-era public health policy that allowed the United States to deny entry to migrants trying to enter the country illegally on the grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. The policy expired just before midnight on May 11.

Before Title 42 ended, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott deployed the Texas Department of Public Safety and a special Tactical Border Force of the National Guard in the area to stay there day and night, Bensman said.

Armed with pepper balls and pepper ball guns, the soldiers were positioned along the razor wire fence and effectively prevented migrants from entering the country, Bensman said.

Migrants tried several times to cross using different tactics, but the outcome was always the same–they were unable to get in, so they had no choice but to “turn around and swim back to Mexico,” he added.

How to Stop Illegal Immigration

While admitting that the action taken by the Texas governor against illegal immigrants was effective, Bensman called this response “crude and brutish.”

“Even though it works, it’s unnecessary,” Bensman said.

Instead, policies that would remove the “entry and stay benefit” for illegal immigrants should be implemented to stop illegal border crossing, Bensman explained.

Any policy that makes entry into the country unlikely—and long-term stay in the country even more unlikely—is going to keep the potential immigrants home, he said.

“They won’t come on the journey if they know that the $10,000 in smuggling fee that they have to beg, borrow, or indenture themselves for, is going to come to naught,” Bensman explained.

The immigrants come when they know they will be able to stay in the United States, and they will not come when they know their money will be wasted, he added.

He complimented former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy as being incredibly effective. The policy directed illegal immigrants and some asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico while awaiting their U.S. court dates.

If potential immigrants know that they are going to have to wait in Mexico, or that Mexico or Costa Rica will deport them at their own southern borders, they are not going to come, Bensman said.

“They want to wait inside the United States so they can disappear,” he said. “Nobody is coming for the great Mexican dream.”

US Immigration Centers in Latin America

On April 11, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas visited the Darien Gap in Panama, an immigration route taken by migrants from Latin America heading north to the United States, where he announced a deal with Panama and Colombia.

The Darien Gap is a region that spans the Colombia–Panama border where many migrants start their journey to North America through the roadless jungle, exposing themselves to danger from natural hazards and hostile groups controlling the region.

The trilateral deal aims to stop the transfer of immigrants through the Darien Gap to prevent their exploitation by smugglers, open new lawful pathways for tens of thousands of migrants and refugees, and launch a plan to reduce poverty and create jobs in communities on the Panama–Colombia border partnering with international organizations and private sector, Mayorkas said.

During another visit to Panama at the end of April, Mayorkas announced the creation of regional immigration centers in Colombia and Guatemala to process immigrants, the State Department said.

Potential immigrants will be interviewed at these centers before traveling to the United States and, if approved, will “be processed rapidly for lawful pathways to the United States, Canada, and Spain,” the statement said.

Mayorkas said at a press conference in Panama during his visit that in order to screen immigrants “very quickly,” the staff of the regional immigration centers would be surged to work with two international organizations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The IOM is part of the U.N. system as the leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration. The UNHCR is the United Nations agency for refugees.

Both organizations operate aid stations all along the immigration trails in South America and Central America that provide various services and supplies, including some financial support to refugees and immigrants on their journey to North America, Bensman told The Epoch Times in an earlier interview.

Conclusion

Illegal immigration is a complex issue that requires a multifaceted approach. While policies like Title 42 and the Texas governor’s response have been effective in preventing illegal border crossings, long-term solutions that remove the incentives for illegal immigration are necessary. The creation of regional immigration centers in Latin America and the trilateral deal between the United States, Panama, and Colombia

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