Immigration could happen the legal way if we funded and staffed the agency that processes immigration.

Republicans have opposed funding for processing immigration for decades and imposed caps on the number of people who can immigrate each year. A bill to increase funding and staffing that gave Republicans what they wanted last fall was tanked by Republicans because it would look bad for them right before the election. There was already a staffing shortage, and the recent wave of firings increased the shortage.

We only have a problem because the problem was intentionally created.