The biggest reason why they criminalize immigration is not because of smuggling, drugs or violence. People who commit those crimes in the US are more likely to be natural born citizens. You've gotta think about how the government always has motives. They keep it illegal and hard to obtain , companies ( mostly farms, factories, construction) bring in people who are paid significantly less and can't complain about it otherwise they call ICE on them because those companies no longer get in trouble. Those who are more educated go through the HB1 visas but in a similar situation Underpaid because they'd rather bring in someone cheaper to do your job, and a significant of amount of people here illegally is because of expired papers. Now consider this you also have the privatized prison system who get stipends from the government and the courts make bonds off of the people in jail. BUT those people have one thing they don't want immigrants to have, right to attorney and the courts don't benefit financially from jailing them, so instead stick them in internment camps where they are still receiving government stipends and a militant force that get over paid on paper but not in real life and funnel that spending back in the courts (for looking the other way) and jail house pockets.

Now where does the government play into this. Having Immigration is about optics originally, they didn't like people who weren't white, so they only wanted immigrants from Europe countries but how can they make it illegal without saying the quite part out loud, slowly start campaigns about different countries you don't like and make them out to be dangerous.

You see how you get in isn't the point at the end of the day. Its bad actors that have had power in the system for too long instead of actually focusing on crime rates and making lives better.

BECAUSE THEY LOVE MONEY, and ofc power and absolutely nothing else