It is about how illegal immigrants depress wages at the lowest economic tiers. The jobs that they fill, many supporters will say, are those that native born Americans do not want. But at the right hourly wage, they would. And yes, I know, that would lead to inflation. There is a reason that someone like Bernie Sanders is strongly against illegal immigration. From the NYT article I link to

When workers are scarce, companies are more likely to hire people without much experience or formal education, and to provide training to help those employees succeed. Employers are also more likely to consider candidates with disabilities, criminal records or other barriers to work and to offer other options, like flexible hours, to attract people with caregiving responsibilities.

Companies are also more likely to raise pay. Wage growth, which was sluggish for much of the recovery, has picked up in recent years, with the strongest gains among workers at the bottom of the earnings ladder, in jobs that are often concentrated in the service sector, like fast food and retail.

And so Trump, with his nativist policies, reduced immigration, no illegal immigration, strong borders, etc, appeals to many black men who understand that their economic conditions were better under Trump than they are under Biden.

The solution to me is clear - place the burden on hiring and verifying using something like eVerify in whatever true compromise immigration bill ever gets passed. As well as reforming our asylum laws and either building that Wall/paying Mexico to stop people flowing north at their border with Guatemala/Belize.

From an economic standpoint, the illegal immigrants are depressing wages - but at the lowest tier. Not at the level of lawyers or data analysts. AKA us.

Or if I want to use another example from Boston - a local community center in a predominantly black Boston neighborhood was being used to house illegal immigrants and the reaction to them was not positive

https://www.wbur.org/news/2024/02/02/politics-healey-wu-shelter-roxbury-migrants-melnea-cass-recreation-center