Something many Americans don’t seem to be educated about properly is asylum/refugee status. It used to be considered a good thing that a first world country would provide asylum for those in danger.

Both require the first entry to be an illegal entry, or to have an overstay. If you can enter or stay in a country legally, you don’t need asylum there. You can just, y’know, stay.

America even recognises this by having asylum application stations some way but not very far inside the border, because if you have a massive continent sized country and expect people to go to an immigration office or something, they may not find it or may just not apply even if they have valid reason to.

This deliberate lack of education feels very like how some Americans were never properly educated on the actual purpose of the UN, or how taxes work, or uow “we’re a republic not a democracy” is nonsense, or even what your president does. And they all feel like very deliberate political decisions to make this so.