[noncoml]

> What problem are you hoping to fix by doing this?

He/she is saying the quiet part out loud. It was never about illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is just the start.

The underlying theme is xenophobia, racism and bigotry.

[throwaway173738]

Even calling it “illegal immigration” lends fuel to the fire. There’s a very distinct difference between crossing the border illegally and violating the terms of a legally acquired visa or stamp. The latter is a civil matter which is why people weren’t historically rounded up and detained under threat of violence or murder. So yeah this whole thing is strictly about xenophobia being used to whip up the in group about an out group so we don’t look too closely at EG Venezuela or the sales process for presidential pardons.

[root_axis]

There is also a third class of people lumped into the category: those who did everything legally and simply had their legal status abruptly revoked.

[convolvatron]

lets be fair, there is also a heavy whiff of anti-intellectualism in the air