It depends on how you look at it. If their only "crime" was just crossing an imaginary line in the middle of the desert, then if caught, most of the time they'd just send them back over the line. They wouldn't have to send anyone to prison for that, they don't have to separate them from their kids, and they don't have to really detain them at all.
That may not be the best solution either, but it's better than what is being done now.
Mind you, I live close to the border, and this an issue which causes a lot of consternation on both sides. I also understand why a lot of people along the border are upset about illegal border crossings. There have been a lot of problems - crime and violence along the border.
Although I've heard some ranchers down there complain that it's the Border Patrol which is a bigger problem than the migrants. They're not like typical city cops; sometimes they seem a bit too zealous and fanatical. Most of the migrants just pass through quickly; they don't want to hang around. But the Border Patrol comes in like gangbusters and wrecking people's property. I was on a Greyhound passing through the Checkpoint west of Van Horn TX, and every passenger on the bus was searched - except for the white passengers. This was the Border Patrol even back when Clinton was president, and they've never really changed. But perhaps the present Administration makes them believe that they might get away with more of this nonsense. Or maybe they just think they can do whatever they want and the president will back them.
There's also the unscrupulous "coyotes" who exploit, mistreat, and abuse the migrants and their families. Every so often, they find houses full of 20-30 or more people living in horrid conditions, living as virtual prisoners until they pay the coyotes.
But they need to target the coyotes and the businesses that employ undocumented immigrants. They're the ones who need to go to prison.
I don't see any practical reason for what is being done now (separating families). But whatever happens, it needs to stop, and both parties need to get to work and come up with a meaningful immigration reform package.
If they can do that and make it easier to travel across the border - along with ending the "war on drugs" - then there would be far less crime and violence along the border than there is now. And the Border Patrol could relax and spend their time finding lost kittens or something.
There's also international considerations here. Considering that the geopolitical situation seems to be in flux for the moment, I think we can ill afford to alienate or generate ill-will with our Latin American neighbors. Rather than focusing so much on Europe or the Middle East or East Asia, we should have been concentrating our diplomatic influence in our own region. We need to reinstate the Good Neighbor policy and work to gain the goodwill of our neighbors to the south. That's going to be an uphill battle, to be sure - but it might ultimately prove necessary for our own security and survival in a changing world.
