You come to the United States through normal travel and then declare when you get here. Nobody just shows up on the border*, especially not by self-made boat. The one-foot thing only applies to Cuban refugees who actually can make the short travel and are sometimes assisted by their government in doing so.
*Even people trying to cross the Mexican border are a very small number and generally those being scammed by coyotes, very rarely are they Mexicans who can, like Canadians (unfortunately), freely enter the United States anyway.
*Even people trying to cross the Mexican border are a very small number and generally those being scammed by coyotes, very rarely are they Mexicans who can, like Canadians (unfortunately), freely enter the United States anyway.