Many of the issues that Americans are concerned about are directly or indirectly affected by illegal immigration. For instance, most Americans would say that they're more concerned with finding a job than they are about stopping illegal immigration. But many jobs are filled by illegal immigrants, which makes it more difficult for many Americans to find a job.
Most Americans would say that they're more concerned with their children getting a quality education in their local public school system than they are about stopping illegal immigration. But one of the reasons that many American children aren't receiving a quality education is because many schools are filled with illegal immigrant children who aren't well versed in English, so it takes more time for them to learn, and this slows down the learning process for the American students because the teacher has to go at a slower pace. Also, having all of these illegal immigrant students in our public schools adds to overcrowding in the classrooms, which also affects the quality of education that American students are receiving.
These are just two of many issues in which Americans would probably say that they're more concerned about a particular issue than they are about stopping illegal immigration. But many of these other issues, just as with jobs and quality of education in our public schools, are also affected by illegal immigration.
There are nearly ten million Americans chronically unemployed in this country, there are an estimated thirteen million illegal aliens in this country.
How many of that ten million unemployed are willing to pick tomatoes for a living if they can't find a job in their normal field?
Not many, not many at all.
Would you?
In October 2001, it was reported that 100,000 people had lost their jobs in the airline industry as a result of the attacks on 9/11.?
How many of those flight attendants do you believe would have taken a job in lawn maintenance or roofing?
As a stand alone issue, illegal immigration doesn't get a bleep in the radar of American opinion, it doesn't mean that it isn't an important issue, it's just that the people in general don't think it is as important as people in this forum make it to be.