‘Shameful’: Legal immigrants face uphill battle amid ongoing border crisis

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. – Catherine waited successful Colombia for 9 years earlier her migration exertion was approved, allowing her to articulation her siblings successful the United States. Two years later, she said she's inactive waiting for her hubby to beryllium allowed to articulation her successful her caller location successful Colorado.

She gets upset erstwhile she thinks astir the tens of thousands of radical flooding crossed the confederate borderline each period who didn't hold similar she did. 

"If you effort to bash [it] successful a close way, you request to hold a agelong time. You request to wage fees," she told Fox News Digital. "And immoderate radical conscionable transverse the borderline for escaped and that's it."

"It is shameful that we person amerciable migrants present that are cutting to the beforehand of the enactment and not going done this process," Castle Rock municipality councilman and authorities Rep. Max Brooks, a Republican, told Fox News Digital.

Migrants seeking asylum successful the United States are silhouetted arsenic they queue astatine the borderline crossing successful Tijuana, Mexico, Jan. 18, 2025. Southwest borderline encounters, which deed erstwhile highs of 1.6 cardinal successful 1986 and 2000, past dwindled to a decades-long debased of astir 304,000 successful fiscal twelvemonth 2017, started to summation again during Trump's archetypal term, past skyrocketed to caller highs during the Biden administration.  (REUTERS/Jorge Duenes)

ON THE GROUND IN THE COLORADO CITY WHERE PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP PROMISES TO REMOVE ‘SAVAGE GANGS’ OF ILLEGALS

Illegal migration is among the governmental issues that drove President Donald Trump's triumph successful the 2024 election. Trump vowed successful his inaugural address Monday to "end the signifier of drawback and release," and signed a slew of time 1 enforcement actions that included an bid authorizing the subject to draught a program to "seal the borders," and different ending the usage of the CBP One app to process migrants.

Trump's attraction turned to Colorado aft a viral video showed alleged Venezuelan migrants carrying guns wrong an Aurora flat complex.

Ahead of inauguration day, Fox News Digital spoke with Catherine and her sister Zully successful Castle Rock, a municipality astir 30 miles southbound of Denver, astir migration and Trump's deportation plans. Both agreed the state needed strict borderline security.

"Although astir radical travel with the volition of working, helping the metropolis grow, and increasing personally, determination are galore who gaffe done who are not bully people," Zully said. She added that it's important for immigrants to "receive an acquisition successful civic civilization truthful that we each behave arsenic we should."

Zully and Catherine felt that the question of amerciable borderline crossings slowed down the process for ineligible immigrants.

But David Bier, manager of migration studies astatine the libertarian Cato Institute, pushed backmost connected the conception that amerciable immigrants person immoderate effect connected hold times for ineligible immigrants due to the fact that Customs and Border Protection doesn't process migration applications.

"It's handled by a abstracted agency," helium said. "So if idiosyncratic crosses the borderline illegally, that is not going to straight impact anyone successful the ineligible migration strategy who is trying to travel done the ineligible process."

Bier besides argued that the delays plaguing the system, caps connected greenish cards and choky restrictions connected eligibility marque ineligible migration "nearly impossible."

"It's a blameworthy until proven guiltless system. And the lone mode you tin beryllium your innocence oregon your eligibility to immigrate is if you autumn into precise constrictive exceptions," helium said. 

Green cards for spouses and children of lawful imperishable residents utilized to beryllium "straightforward," but present instrumentality years, said Zully, who immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia. "It's frustrating due to the fact that the migration processes person go overmuch longer," she said. (Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi/Fox News Digital)

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U.S. instrumentality presently allows officials to assistance up to 675,000 imperishable migrant visas each twelvemonth crossed definite categories, according to the American Immigration Council. Priority is fixed to non-immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (there is nary headdress connected greenish cards for big citizens' spouses, parents oregon children) and relatives of lawful imperishable residents. Skilled workers, highly-educated individuals and "persons of bonzer ability" successful the arts, science, athletics oregon different fields whitethorn besides qualify.

"The exceptions are truthful constrictive that truly lone astir 3% of each the radical who were trying to immigrate legally past twelvemonth really got a greenish paper and were capable to go a ineligible imperishable resident," Bier said.

He said efforts to fortify borderline information are little apt to deter amerciable migration than addressing the incentives — chiefly economical — for entering the U.S.

"The benefits of coming to the United States are enormous," Bier said. "You tin marque it much costly for radical to travel in, but arsenic agelong arsenic the benefits support rising to immigrating here, you're going to spot radical wage more, find ways astir immoderate restrictions are imposed, and pb to much chaos and upset astatine our borders."

Bier argued that removing oregon expanding caps connected migration and making it easier for employers to sponsor workers "would ameliorate a important portion of the problems that we look astatine the border."

"When I speech to Border Patrol agents, they truly privation the radical who are coming for peaceful reasons, for enactment purposes oregon household reunification, to use astatine the consulate truthful we tin absorption connected our occupation of securing the borderline against threats, criminals and different radical who we privation to support retired of our country," helium said.

Border Patrol agents hunt migrants successful March 2024, adjacent Jacumba Hot Springs, California. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)

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Meanwhile, successful Colorado, State Rep. Brooks said helium would enactment an "expedited system" to process amerciable immigrants who privation to go lawful residents, but that they should person to permission the state to spell done that process.

"Get them backmost southbound crossed the borderline and get the paperwork started for them if they privation to naturalize," helium said. "But close now, if you are an amerciable migrant successful this country, you request to beryllium removed."