Not necessarily no. Most border crossings aren't even prosecuted. https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/520/ https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/520/

Not necessarily no. Most border crossings aren't even prosecuted. https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/520/ https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/520/ Increasing the number of them being prosecuted places a massive burden on the court system and results in the various unjust scenarios we have today. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/us/border-immigration-courts.html?module=inline https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/us/border-immigration-cou... There isn't any evidence that criminalization decreases the number of border crossings either. https://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mgmt/2015/OIG_15-95_May15.pdf https://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mgmt/2015/OIG_15-95_May15.pdf Indeed, immigration levels haven't decreased under trump despite the massive increase in prosecutions. Given this, it isn't absurd to think that other approaches would be at least as effective at controlling immigration in practice.