As a signatory of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, the United States is obligated to grant asylum to individuals who have a fear of persecution for reasons of race, nationality, religion, political opinion or membership of a particular social group. The United States is not obliged to accept applicants who have a fear of domestic violence or crime.
In INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca the Supreme Court held that individuals with a “well-founded fear” of physical harm or torture must be allowed to remain in the United States while their asylum requests are being processed.
The United States receives something upwards of 150,000 applications for asylum per year of which only a fraction, something between 10% and 30%, ultimately result in the applicant receiving asylum. The number of applications that are presently at some stage of the review process is something in the vicinity of 500,000. Most asylum-seekers whose applications are accepted are from the Middle East or Africa.
Beyond that just about everything is a matter of opinion. I don’t think that most applicants for asylum from Mexico and Central America have a clear understanding of what U. S. law requires for an asylum application to be granted. I don’t think there is clear evidence that most applicants from Mexico or Central America are engaging in fraud as the attorney general has alleged.
