These policies may lead to a reduction in border crossings for a brief time. We are now seeing a drop in migrant encounters at the US-Mexico border after the Biden administration’s latest asylum ban proclamation and the heightened, often abusive, interdiction efforts of Mexican officials.

But we know from decades of experience that the pendulum eventually swings back, no matter how much pain our policies inflict. That’s largely because deterrence tactics do not address why people are moving, which is often to live together with their family members in the United States or to find a better, safer life for themselves.

And worse, even as the numbers of encounters drop, deaths of migrants appear to be on the rise. Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector officials, for example, reported finding record numbers of human remains in recent months. Instead of dissuading migrants from coming, these policies are pushing them into crossing through the most remote and deadlier parts of the borderlands.

In 2022 (the latest year for which border-wide data is available), Border Patrol documented more than 850 human remains found in the borderlands. Since 1994, Border Patrol has recorded nearly 10,000 human remains, including of women, pregnant people, and children and toddlers. Unfortunately, deterrence efforts at the US-Mexico border contribute to tragic and increasing numbers of deaths and disappearances of people who come to the US in search of safety, to reunite with family members, or to find a better life.

Regardless of who is president, it is time for the United States to pursue a new approach that prevents needless deaths and is solidly grounded in international human rights and refugee standards, including policies that respect, at a minimum, the human right to life and family unity.

For a fraction of the billions of taxpayer dollars spent on hardening the border, the US government could invest instead in a rights-respecting border management process that brings governmental and nongovernmental entities together to establish reception centers at ports of entry staffed by asylum officers and immigration judges, health professionals, trauma counselors, child welfare specialist, and other humanitarian services providers. Congress should also expand migration pathways that embrace the complex and multicausal reality of people’s movements.

And, US aspirants for political office should also change their rhetoric and talk instead about how immigrants make enormous contributions to the United States, including by strengthening the economy, providing health care, and broadening innovative and productive industries.

By doing so, the United States would set an example for other countries to follow.