Much of the Trump ascendancy was built on preaching against illegal immigrants, especially illegal immigrants who take jobs from real Americans. The facts say those numbers are low but facts don't matter a lot these days, especially to people who are afraid of foreigners or who aren't working and like that as a reason. Personally, I don't care that much about "the illegals" and I cringe at the racism that is sometimes expressed against both legal and illegal immigrants.
If I did think it was vital to purge our population of illegal aliens…well, there's an easy way to do it that would be more effective than building a wall or sending a lot of armed guys who think they're Chuck Norris to guard the border. You create an efficient way — unlike the current one, which is easy to work around — to verify that someone is in this country legally. Then you require employers to use that method and verify legal status, plus — and you have to do this part — you impose stiff fines and even jail time for employers who don't verify.
You do that, illegals can't get jobs in this country. And if they can't get jobs in this country, they'll go to some other country or don't come here in the first place. Simple as it could be.
But as Wayne Cornelius notes, Republicans don't want to do that. Much of their base demands they do something about the illegals but Republican leadership isn't about pleasing its base. It's about pleasing rich people, corporate owners and employers — and those people like illegal aliens because they work cheap.
Also, those people don't want to be slapped with stiff fines or face jail. As Cornelius notes, employers who do hire illegals face less than a microscopic chance of being caught under the current system and if they are caught, the penalties are mild.
Let's see what Mr. Trump will do to change this…but I kinda doubt we'll wind up with anything that would ever cause any Trump business — most of which have employed illegals — to have ever faced fines or jail. They also won't threaten fines or jail against the businesses that hired Mrs. Trump when she worked without the proper work visa.