jdf007, an airplane ticket from Central America to the U.S. costs much less than $14,000. More people fly in on a tourist visa and then overstay that visa than cross the southern border illegally by land. So why do they do it? My guess is that it’s hard to make an asylum claim if you come on a tourist visa. Your argument for following the rules doesn’t work if you’re in fear of your life. Poverty is not a valid basis for asylum, so the fact that somebody paid a coyote a lot of money is a red herring. Chances are that after they pay the money, they really are poor.
If Trump really wanted to solve the immigration crisis, he would use the resources of the United States to improve conditions in Central America so people wouldn’t want to leave. Instead he cut humanitarian aid to Central America, and is diverting some of the funds to the Venezuelan opposition to pay for their salaries, airfare, “good governance” training, propaganda, technical assistance for holding elections and other “democracy-building” projects.