Re: "This is a very confused post"
"It is. Europe's legal system is so integrated so some decisions can be made in Brussels."
Every EU country has it's own laws around naturalization and immigration. The same passport that allows you free entry to Ireland - for example - does not allow you free entry to other countries in Europe.
For naturalization, for example in the UK, you fulfill specific requirements, and your application goes into process. In Greece, those requirements are different. Ireland is different still, requiring Irish citizens to "vouch" for your character.
So lets take UK for example with illegal entry. According to Davidson Morris, legal attorneys specializing in immigration, "Paragraphs A320 and 320(7B) of the Immigration Rules state that you have to leave the UK voluntarily within 30 days of your visa expiring in the UK". Additionally, according to Service Gov UK, "Offence of knowingly entering the United Kingdom in breach of a deportation order or without leave." It goes on to say that you can challenge the status BUT the burden of proof is to show you had permission to be there via visa or other means.
The difference in the US, is that you can be here totally illegally, no means present, and you can still go to court and demand the right to stay IN SPITE OF being here illegally.
Understand the difference? It's subtle, I'll grant you, but it is a significant difference.
"Oh I see. You beef is that ICE to *too* lenient then. We were on different pages it seems, sorry for the misunderstanding. Wow..."
Yes, actually, with the effort my family and I went through to get here LEGALLY, people coming in illegally offend me significantly more knowing that the US does accept refugee applications at the border, and due process guarantees every person asking for same is processed according to international law on receiving refugees.