What also bears repeating is that asylum grant rates are very low, because the laws governing asylum are rather strict.

> An asylum claimant must demonstrate persecution based on one of the five protected grounds (race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion).

Poverty is not one of the grounds (nor is it the same as government persecution), so most of these people don't qualify. But they don't leave. In absentia removal orders continue to pile up, but they're unenforced because failed asylum seekers are not a current "enforcement priority" for ICE. And so, yes, this is actually illegal migration.

I read a NYT article today about Venezuelan “asylum seekers” inconvenienced by Biden’s recent border turnabout.

I put it in quotes because in the first paragraph, it says they left Venezuela SEVEN YEARS ago, and were living in Costa Rica or Chile. (Chile is a rich country, btw — they have the 10th strongest passport in the world.) This particular family only came to the US because they heard the border was open under Biden.

There are a lot of people like that — who have flee their home countries and build lives in Brazil or Chile or even Mexico, but decide they want another upgrade to America. That’s a fine goal. But it’s not worthy of asylum.

Texas and the other states would gladly deport these people. They are not allowed to; though. Only the federal government does, and the federal government these days has very little interest in deportations. So they send them North as a protest.