Then why has nearly every major prominent DIMocrat done a 180 on their views on illegal immigration in recent years?
It can't be because they're just oh so humanitarian, can it? Of course not, they're politicians, so there absolutely, positively, has to be something in it for them. If it's not the votes, what is it? Please, Octavia, enlighten me.
Now, the even more skeptical among us would say that the DIMocrats are not quite as dim as I might think. They realize that the large voting block of African Americans are leaving them, and they need to be replaced, and that explains the DIMocrat party's about face when it comes to illegal immigration, and the media's relentless conflation of legal immigration and illegal immigration.
Look at the states most affected by illegal immigration. Of course, two of them are Texas and Florida. Turn them reliably blue, and it makes it difficult, if not nearly impossible for a republican candidate to win a national election.