Sorry, you're wrong.
This site
should help explain it for you. There are even further links you can click on, knock yourself out.
Does Illegal Entry to the U.S. or Lying and Using False Documents at Entry Create Problems When Applying for Asylum?
Illegal Entry Is Not a Ground of Inadmissibility for Asylum Applicants
Unlike many other categories of applicants for immigration benefits, people seeking asylum in the U.S. are not barred by having made an illegal entry; for example, sneaked across the U.S. border. Huge numbers of past asylum applicants found that entering the U.S. without permission was their only or best way to get to safety and flee the persecution they faced at home.
The language of the Immigration and Nationality Act says “any alien” can apply for asylum if he or she is “physically present in the United States . . . irrespective of such alien’s status.” (See
I.N.A. Section 208(a).)
Before you have a chance to submit your asylum application, however, you are at risk of removal; be sure to read
What if ICE Arrests Me for Being Illegal Before I've Submitted My Asylum Application (Form I-589)?.