As I understand it, the demographics of migrants have changed quite a bit. Most of the immigrants at the southern border used to be unaccompanied men and boys seeking jobs and better wages among their neighbors to the north. Those men crossed the border in secret, then tried to disappear into the population. They were truly undocumented once hidden, performing mostly low wage jobs that employers struggled to find US citizens willing to work.
Today, many migrants are families, women, and unaccompanied children, and more to the point, they seek humanitarian asylum, for which there is a clear set of legal guidelines to follow. These migrants cross the border and then either wait for CBP to locate them or they call CBP on the phone. They are not trying to disappear into the population. Once contacted by CBP, they are given water and food if they need it, and most importantly, they're issued a preliminary court date to appear in immigration court to make the case for their asylum request. Once they've been summoned, they are no longer undocumented. In fact, they have been issued papers allowing them to remain in the US at least until their court appearance. In other words, they are documented, not undocumented.
The immigration laws provide this humanitarian respite and give migrants a legal path to asylum if they can demonstrate the danger they face if they return to their places of origin. They must request asylum from inside the US. There are no restrictions regarding where they can cross the border, and as I understand it, once in the US they have up to one year to request asylum.
Democrats have ignored this, and allowed republicans to frame legal asylum issues as illegal undocumented immigration, which it mostly is not. Again, this is based on my understanding of asylum law.
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