I believe it is to confuse John and Jane Q. Public. I mean who is against immigration? Doesn’t everyone descend from an immigrant? See, when they add the “illegal” as the prefix, then people start shaking their heads, “No!”
Semantics are everything.
Don’t lose to much sleep on this. This is nothing more but a play for money. Election after election will go by with nothing passed. Both sides have a nice little issue to get voters out to the polls.
How about “criminal aliens”? Call it the correct thing, and these bloated idiots passing for politicians would have no place to turn. Orwell was a useful idiot, but more useful than idiot.