Mass deportations are a campaign promise of Donald Trump that could cost the U.S. more than $300 billion to implement, as it could raise food prices and take a toll on industries and families.

How could a proposal so damaging to the country resonate with so many voters, including Latinos, who will undoubtedly be affected and yet supported the Republican nominee? His rate increased by 14% among Latino voters compared to 2020? The answer lies in a misunderstanding of our immigration system.

Many Americans, including well-meaning ones, argue that “illegals should be deported and returned the right way.” This view holds that anyone seeking residency, citizenship, or asylum in America must do so in strict compliance with immigration law.

This is the “perfect immigrant”. But in reality, the current system is too confusing, expensive and slow to deliver on these complaints.

As a Mexican-American raised on the border, I have seen the effects firsthand, even within my own family. The biggest hurdle is the government’s huge backlog of cases.

The Justice Department’s Executive Office of Immigration Review reported a case backlog of 2.46 million at the end of fiscal year 2023. Alana McMains, a San Diego-based attorney who has represented people at all levels of the immigration process, took me to the office for visas, where I saw which visas are considered based on the date of application and the person’s country of origin.

People can apply for several types of visas to enter the country, including those granted based on family and professional criteria, each with its own hierarchy for review. For example, an unmarried son or daughter of a US citizen has priority in the category (F1) that considers family criteria.

However, it is not easy for them either. “Even if they do it the right way, they never cross illegally, they never committed a crime, they never used a fake document, they filed a legal application, they paid money, they were perfect, but if they don’t have the right type of kinship, they might it has been waiting for 30 years.

Based on Visa office data for December 2024, anyone from Mexico who applied for the F1 category on November 22, 2004 is now being considered. These applicants have been waiting for 20 years for citizenship. (The waiting list is shorter or longer based on the country and type of relationship, for example, spouse versus sibling.)

If immigrants are allowed to spend some of this long wait time in the US, desperation may lead many of them to break the country’s laws, especially if they have dependents to support. Two of the most common crimes are fake marriage.

While it’s easy to say that people should follow the law — and they certainly, of course, should — we must recognize that the immigration process is so complex that it leads many to make dangerous choices.

Long waiting periods go hand in hand with expensive filing fees. They typically range from $520 to $1,440, and individual circumstances determine the combination immigrants need to meet the terms of the framework. Sometimes, as with work permit renewals, the same forms must be submitted and paid for multiple times.

Then there is the added cost of hiring a lawyer, a resource that can determine the outcome of cases, particularly for non-English speakers. Some people try to go through the process without legal representation to save money, but a 2015 study found that those with representation are more likely to obtain legal status and avoid deportation.

The solution would be an overhaul of the immigration system, but bipartisan efforts at comprehensive reform have collapsed in the legislative process. There has also been a political shift in how immigrants are viewed by Republicans and Democrats. Politics that were considered practical and compassionate in the 1980s would now be labeled radical.

What’s happening now is a mess that, according to Theresa Cardinal Brown, senior adviser on immigration and border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, many members of Congress and their staffs don’t even understand. This means that MPs designing policies to change the system are also dealing with a complicated process. “You don’t know how to get to the outcome that you’re trying to get to in a way that’s doable,” Brown told NPR earlier this year.

Nevertheless, the US has benefited enormously from immigrants economically as undocumented immigrant households paid $35.1 billion in taxes in 2022. At the same time, they were exploited by companies that worked illegally for the financial benefit of employers.

That is why the attacks that immigrants face – on their family, on their work and on their personality – while trying to cope with a difficult process, are a stigma on the system.

When Trump assures that only those who break the law will face consequences, many would likely be shocked to learn who is considered a criminal. False narratives of what constitutes the “right way” will destroy families in this country. Perfect immigrants do not exist because America does not allow them.

Alex Zaragoza is a television writer and journalist. She is a columnist for the De Los section of the LA Times and is working on a television series based on her life on the US-Mexico border.