It makes the situation you describe all that more despicable. One is trying to make things right and is threatened with deportation and the break up of a family.
The other are just low-life leeches that are not threatened. Just allowed to live here sucking the blood of the American people.
That's why there seems to be no rhyme nor reason to the current situation. Non-citizens can easily bring in all their relatives but it seems that kind of thing should be limited to citizens. Intermarriage with Americans would be obviously good for assimilation but we're seeing complete foreign and welfare communities springing up because low-income foreigners can bring in all their relatives. Uneducated, unskilled unwed mothers can stay forever collecting welfare forever ---but like the case you mention, welfare woulld be avoided but they forbid that.
The one thing that no one (not even Democrats) should be able to get past is that the illegals are jumping ahead of millions of people throughout the world who are trying to immigrate legally and who have respect for our institutions and rule of law. It speaks volumes about the Mexican people and the Mexican government that this does not bother them in the slightest.