I think illegal immigration is a problem in the US but it is not even top ten in issues. I think the sheep, and ignorant are making this their biggest issue. Which is what the rich elites want. I am lucky that I have been able to climb the socio-economic ladder from being raised in a conservative high middle class family and most of my family is middle class. It is very clear that while the peasants fight over their 1 % and blame brown/black folks they lose sight of what is actually happening. The real anger in America is because most people can no longer afford things. 1% of the population owns 98% of the resources. That is the real issue.
Capitalism has grown unchecked, and that is the problem. I make most of my income as capital gains so the taxes are outrageous as it is, but the problem is that there are too many loop holes and the wealthiest get out of paying most of their taxes. Look at wealth inequality since Reagan with his tax cuts. That is the problem. Again I benefit from these tax cuts but what benefit can I have now that I finally made it if the people around me are all in a bad situation.
Illegal immigration has actually subsidized food prices en masse for Americans, and most illegals pay into social security and will never benefit from it. If you remove them when the economy is bad its going to hurt the wallet of Americans. Yes, we need true immigration reform. The reason we do not have it is that the corporations profit from their hard work ethic, and the low wages they can pay them.
There has been an erosion of American values as well, and not the ones you think. All this bs of Christian values, that is not the problem. Our immigrants (legal or illegal) are mostly Christian. The values I am talking about is the work ethic. Our great grandfather's worked their farms, and their children did as well. Now we hire poor immigrants, and our children do not have the work ethic, or skills to since they were never taught to have to do that.
The real solution to our problem is remove all politicians from office, ban trading on markets for any elected officials and their immediate family, bring forth new elections, delete gerrymandering do vote by county or through citizen elected commissions, and employ a flat tax. After these problems are fixed we can work on true immigration reform. With the problems we are facing it should not be top 5 if it will push us further into economic decline. Also the cost to remove all of these illegals is more than a trillion dollars over 10 years, we could probably do something better with that money since we are no longer economically viable as a nation. If we were wealthy and had less issues I would have no issues with it.
Most of the people I talk to, or see that want to have their opinions heard don't seem to see the big issue. Go here before you fight with the other 99% for the remaining 1% of your pie.
https://www.usdebtclock.org/ Remember you are closer/more similar in situation to the 3rd grade educated illegal immigrant than you are to the billionaire from your same town that had a grand parent from the same village as your grand parent. Wake up sheeple.