Denise Gilman on why people don't just "get in line" from The Daily Texan article by Lisa Dreher
Denise Gilman is the director of the UT Immigration Clinic, which provides legal assistance to low-income immigrant families. Gilman said the tedious legal process causes families to opt for other ways to get through.
“You can’t come on any permanent basis, and so it’s difficult to cross through official customs and border control,” Gilman said. “Not because there’s a line at the border or because customs and border control is stopping people, but because the way our law is set up, there’s no legal way for many, many intending immigrants to come into the United States.”
Gilman said immigrants are accepted by customs and border control mainly if they have family in the U.S., are asked by an employer to work in the states or are seeking asylum.
“It’s not so much about the physical border as it is about what the laws are that don’t acknowledge the many categories of people who would like to come and contribute to the United States,” Gilman said. “Immigrants who need to get to the United States will do so over, under (or) around any border wall.”