There's no such thing as "coming to the US illegally" if you cross at a border checkpoint with a valid stamp or visa. There are only visa or stamp overstays, wh

There's no such thing as "coming to the US illegally" if you cross at a border checkpoint with a valid stamp or visa. There are only visa or stamp overstays, which is a civil matter. Your analogy to Australia is specious because the vast majority of people being rounded up and detained came here legally on a visa, and then stopped meeting the requirements of that visa. Australia's law is specific to people who bypassed our border checkpoints, since you would have needed a visa or a stamp to get through in the first place. It is a matter of your opinion whether court proceedings are "frivolous." We have a common law system here in the US which allows a judge some latitude in their decisionmaking, up to and including issuing a ruling contrary to established precedent when the precedent doesn't make any sense in the specific situation we're in. If we want to continue having trials, we have to allow even trials which we consider cut and dried so that the truth may be examined and an informed judgement rendered. This is the heart of our civilization and if you throw that away then you will see how brutal things can get without our system.