United States Border Patrol recently announced that about 90,000 migrants flooded across our unsecured southern border during the last 10 days of April. This total includes more than 73,000 migrants Border Patrol encountered and apprehended, and another estimated 17,000 “gotaways” who slipped past our overwhelmed security entirely.

This surge comes as Title 42 is set to expire.

Title 42 is a Trump-era policy implemented during the pandemic that allowed immigration officials to quickly turn away migrants who did not meet asylum requirements. A debate has raged over the past several months about whether Title 42 should be allowed to expire, considering the devastating consequences its expiration will have on the historic immigration crisis.

But the whole debate is simply a distraction from the root of the problem, which is a fundamental disconnect between actions and consequences, especially regarding America’s laws.

Title 42 was intended as a COVID-related emergency use policy to mitigate viral spread. As the federal coronavirus emergency itself is expiring , the Title 42 policy should also expire. Never-ending “emergency” policies endanger American freedom by setting a dangerous precedent for the government to seize control under the guise of an “emergency” with no end in sight.

Unfortunately, however, Title 42’s expiration will also worsen the crisis at the border, with immigrants seeing it as a sign to freely enter the country. Tens of thousands of migrants have already amassed at the border, waiting to enter the country as soon as the policy is lifted.

Still, perpetuating a policy intended to be temporary, and one that is simply a Band-Aid on a bullet hole, is not a solution. What we need is to enact substantive consequences for breaking America’s laws.

Without serious consequences for illegally breaching our nation’s border, there is no incentive to stop doing so. The lack of accountability for breaking our federal immigration laws gives the impression that our southern border is wide open. And for all intents and purposes, it is.

Since President Joe Biden took office, illegal immigration has skyrocketed, likely instigated by statements made during his campaign that invited the flood of immigrants. But even as the crisis worsened, the Biden administration failed to enforce our federal immigration laws, instead supporting policies that further encouraged and even allowed illegal immigration.

Migrants discovered there were no real consequences for breaking America’s federal immigration laws, and it became simply a numbers game — if you happen to get deported when you cross, you cross again and again until you find yourself settled in America. Just ask four-time-deported Francisco Oropesa , who recently massacred his neighbor’s family after once again entering our country illegally.

Another part of the numbers game is the astounding disparity between the number of illegal immigrants and enforcement agents protecting our border. Illegal immigrants pile up at the border, knowing we lack the capacity to handle the sheer volume of immigrants, and also knowing that this increases their chances of getting away with their illegal entry.

But even as Border Patrol agents and immigration facilities are being overwhelmed, Biden is being thanked by the Mexican president for his open-border stance. And while border towns are being crushed under the weight of millions of illegal immigrants, Biden is cutting important border security programs that assist agents in monitoring the vast stretches of terrain that agents can no longer feasibly patrol.

Biden recently announced the deployment of 1,500 active-duty troops to the southern border ahead of the expected illegal immigration surge following Title 42’s expiration, but this move is nothing more than optics. After inviting, facilitating, then ignoring this ever-worsening illegal immigration crisis, 1,500 troops are meaningless except as a political stunt so Biden can claim he did something.

The border has been thoroughly overrun, the system is crumbling beneath the crisis, and the lack of consequences has only empowered those who will perpetuate the disaster by illegally crossing our border following the expiration of Title 42.

If Biden were serious about getting a handle on the border crisis, he would propose a permanent policy in the same vein as Title 42. The benefit of this temporary policy was that it helped expedite claims for asylum, many of which were illegitimate. Many illegal immigrants claim to seek asylum from the violence and economic devastation of their home nations.

While this is a tragedy worthy of our concern, many of these illegal immigrants do not qualify for asylum, as our laws do not provide relief for economic or general violence concerns alone. Our effort to have open hearts has resulted in open borders, and we simply cannot afford that.

Congress also has an important role to play. Thorough reform must be done through the legislature so that border security isn’t left to the whims of an executive branch that has shown a reckless disregard for the established laws of our land. Congress has neglected its duty for years. Don’t let their outcry over the end of Title 42 fool you.

There is a steep social cost for disregarding our federal laws and failing to secure our border.

This crisis has resulted in a range of issues, including unprecedented drug and human trafficking crises and the general degradation of the American justice system. Law-abiding American citizens are the ones who end up shouldering that cost.

Keith Gross is a conservative businessman and attorney from Panama City, Florida. He is the executive director of Advancing Florida, an organization founded to advocate freedom the Florida way.