The welfare state seems to me to be one of the major cause of the illegal immigration situation. The wealth of the US is another attraction. Open borders would be acceptable to everyone if it were not for the welfare state and the immigrants essentially getting something for nothing. Life is clearly better for the unemployed in the United States than for those working in Mexico or many other third world countries. People who are citizens of the United States object to having to provide for people who come in for the free stuff. A lot of misinformation is put out about the contribution to the economy that illegal aliens provide. Generally they work at low paying jobs, and do not pay much in the way of taxes. Yet, they have a lot of children who attend public schools, get free medical care in emergency rooms, and so forth. The sheer numbers, in the tens of millions, have a negative impact on the infrastructure all the way from schools to highways, and even water supplies. (Water is in short supply in the arid areas of the West where most of the illegal aliens reside.)

Politician like to talk about the national debt, and how we are passing this burden to our children. Given that, one would wonder why a person would want to come to the United States to assume part of that debt. There are two possible reasons. First, the per capita share of the assets of America is about $500,000. And second, even better, the illegal immigrant gets the benefits of those assets, and, unless he makes a lot of money, doesn't have to pay any taxes to pay off the debt. For the illegal immigrant, coming to America is a great deal since he gets a lot for nothing. It is such a good deal that so many want to come that there is not room for all of them. We let some in legally, but there is no penalty for those who jump the queue, so why should they bother with legalities.