If it's true people are crossing our borders, claiming asylum, and being let go with work permits, why should anyone do wait to do it the legal way and wait or get denied?
If your goal is time bound (say a few years), the asylum path may work. It will eventually run out though when you get your hearing in court. Asylum applications are overwhelmingly rejected. The legal path, at least theoretically, has a higher probability* of leading to permanent residence.
If you have the ability to immigrate on a visa, it's much safer and easier than relying on "coyotes" or having to cross multiple borders illegally just to take a shot at entering the US.
There's a reason you don't see Mexicans cross the border illegally anymore.
The solution of course is to fix the asylum process so that applications get reviewed faster not to restrict asylum (that's my view at last) but until that happens, for those who get work authorization based on an asylum application, this is just a temporary fix because at some point, their application will be reviewed and if not valid denied.
Sounds like the asylum process is an alternative stream, and the entire border has become a "port of entry."
When asylum is the low-friction way to enter the country and acquire a legal status, economics suggests fewer people will use the traditional immigration process.
If it's true people are crossing our borders, claiming asylum, and being let go with work permits, why should anyone do wait to do it the legal way and wait or get denied?
What is the advantage to doing it the normal way?