I’d just as soon the US not institute exit controls (what would be required to track visa overstays) under the current authoritarian administration. How long before they’re used to track Americans and deny them exit?

Secondly, it’s a charade …

There’s a lack of will to reform immigration law, yet the economy in many parts of the US depends and thrives due to immigration. Allowing students and tourists to overstay is the way to quietly allow immigration without admitting to it.

Immigration is only a problem because backward parts of the US where no one wants to immigrate consider it a problem. Sadly, the backward parts have more of a vote than the more modern parts, so they quietly have to be smiled and nodded to.