The United States needs a long-term strategy that would get at the root cause of why our border is overflowing and help prevent future crises. U.S. domestic immigration policies did not cause the massive wave of Central American migration cresting at our borders. But they are exacerbating the problem, needlessly endangering lives, lining the pockets of criminal organizations, and showing the migrants and the world an unkind America — an image we should not be projecting.

This crisis is a culmination of problems that have simmered for years. Our government agencies are engaged in a fruitless bureaucratic game of whack-a-mole while our political leaders fail to address the underlying issues.