Entering the US without playing mother-may-I with DHS is a minor paperwork offense equivalent to a parking ticket.
HR4437 intended to change it to a felony. HR4437 lost bigly in Congress. Protests and counter-protests of HR4437 moved illegal immigration to a top 20 issue 13 years ago. Before HR4437 is was not in the top 50 issues in FR. It was not in the top 50 issues in any forum.
I didn't realize that this was taken so lightly here in the US. The sentiment of the people has changed though in the past 13 years. Now I would imagine it's a top 5 issue. I hope that illegal border-crossing is further criminalized during Trump's term.