Worried about illegal immigration? Create more legal immigrants.

This was what the Trump administration once claimed it was doing: that it was building a wall to keep out the unauthorized, while constructing “a big, fat beautiful door right in the middle of the wall” so that immigrants could enter the “right way.” In reality, of course, Trump bricked off virtually every legal pathway to the United States, whether through humanitarian, family or work-related means. The administration did this by banning certain categories of migrants, rigging the eligibility criteria and creating obstacle courses of red tape. In general, the immigration system became more arbitrary and dysfunctional.