There are laws and that seems to be your problem. When a person illegally enters the US they can make a claim they need asylum. Then they get to make that case to a judge, who determines the legitimacy of the claim. The previous admistration took the approach of inflicting emotional trauma by separating kids from parents, assuming that “word would get out” and
deter other people from doing the same. Stupid, of course, because staying meant death, which is why they risked death to get here. The current administration has taken the approach to keep families together but send them back. Equally suspect from legal perspective, but certainly more humane. You can’t just label Dems or Repubs and assign a judgement on policy. It is incredibly complicated. Reforms need to be made but then they argue over who gets credit. This is the problem= the inability to vote for something that is net positive because of the perception you are working with the other side.
I’m afraid we are witnessing the death of democracy.