understand WHY these people are fleeing and see what international aid we can give those countries to stop it at it's source. No one wants to leave their home unless it's an absolutely dire circumstance.
This is complicated because each latin american country is so different. I will take El Salvador, and my family there as a micro experiment of conditions. You think america is the have's and have not's? Try latin america. My family primarily consists of doctors on my mom's side and business entrepreneurs on my father's side. El Salvador's economy is directly tied with the United States. Their official currency is the dollar. When they did this back in 2001ish this exacturbated the worsening poverty. The Country has a minimum wage of $300 per month. Yup, you read that right, $300 per month. From that one must pay for food, shelter, etc. Now, if you are educated, i.e. college degree, you are better off than most because you have a decent wage, but pretty much 90% of the country is not. Additionally, portions of the country a run by gangs. These portions aren't in the any of the tourist areas as the Government, run by leftist socialists, try to put on a good face and have provided stepped up enforcement and clean-up efforts, thus forcing gangs like MS-13 to the very outer ex-urbs of the capital, where they have bought off many government officials, and in additional regions where the police and government are more hands off. These gangs were started by the convicts, we as a country, sent back to El Salvador. These gangs take cuts from local businesses for "protection". So what little you make, you get taken away. Additionally, for "security" you also have to pay these gangs to protect your shit. So again, if you are working a minimum wage job, paying the equivalent of $1.87 an hour, to just give up what little you earn to a gang for protection, there ins't much to live for.
Now, you may ask yourself, wait, this is prime country for investment? You are insanely correct. Let's take Uber. Uber has come into the country ans super convenient for a person like my mom and myself whom have means, but when it is simplistic to get a ride now, quarters on the dollar, how much is the driver making? Well I asked my cousin, who Ubers as his job, and guess what? It's 300 a month. No matter how much he drives, he gets the basic minimum wage. I then asked if he could do something else for more money. The answer, not without an education (i.e. college degree). And unlike the states, uber doesn't automatically give "tipping" as an option, therefore a $1 or 2 tip puts a huge smile on a driver's face. So what is uber doing? Essentially wrecking the taxi driver / bus driver jobs (bus drivers own their own buses outright and run them independently, it's like a loose network of independent contractors). American companies see an emerging market and pillage at cheap wages and maximum profit through a middle class that doesn't really grow but rather inherit and maintain wealth through un-spoken "class system" (as a side note, my first gf, salvadoreno, was from a poorer family, therefore my folks didn't really like her because she was not part of the middle class / wealthy class like themselves).
So as a person, with little to no job opportunities, starting a family or trying to survive with a family, innate natural human tendencies kick in to feed, and better your family when there is no "safety net" aside from basic public education and basic basic health care. You look for opportunities elsewhere. The US, with a minimum wage of $10 plus an hour, or more, and generally in farm labor, can earn up to if not more than $100 during harvest season, looks awful tempting when faced with a minimum wage of $300 per day, even with all the hardships to get here illegally, you do what you need to do.
In no way am I advocating illegal immigration. My mom came here on a student visa. My dad came here on a regular green card. This was the early 1960's and times were different. Getting a visa to even visit people in the states is really really hard. Going through the Visa process with my cousin to allow her to visit with her son, I have had to provide info such as yearly income, etc. Currently our unemployment rate is at 3.5% in my county, and finding people to do basic jobs is virtually impossible. My GF's father commented that is ridiculously hard to find a line cook and bus boy for his restaurant. No one wants those jobs, or quit after a week or so because the wages just aren't there to sustain a business. Americans need to realize we are no longer a manufacturing based economy, but rather a service based economy. Simple answers such as "raise minimum wage" are complicated at best. Our immigration system already tilts to eurocentric skews towards taking legal immigrants with needed "manufacturing skills". Walls, amnesty, etc is not an answer, but comprehensive reform of our system that aligns to our economic realities is really what our country needs, as well as those willing to roll up their sleeves and better their economic situation.
