@hightor,
I think the migrant problem and "open borders" are more of a problem for Europe than for the You Ess of Ay. First because Europe has been flooded with people fleeing the Syrian civil war, the instability in Libya and other African crises from militant Islam; and second because of economic refugees from Africa.
The problem in the United States is more from economic refugees, and there is a hidden situation there which does not exist in Europe. Stoop labor was originally performed in the U.S. by Chinese immigrants, until the Chinese Exclusion Act. Labor recruiters simply went out a recruited Japanese labor. Despite the "Yellow Peril" BS, the Japanese were the cheap labor source of choice--until December, 1941. With the Japanese in internment camps, labor recruiters started looking for Mexican and other Spanish-speaking immigrants, and as the population boomed after the Second World War, that stoop labor was more in demnd than ever--but now a political reality of the U.S. loomed ever larger. Those who benefit from that cheap labor source put money into the political coffers of members of Congress, so there is a hidden force which
favors illegal immigration. With the Ray-gun era IRCA (Immigration Reform and Control Act) which provided amnesty and the opportunity to apply for citizenship for illegals here, pundits were surprised at how many
fewer people took advantage of the amnesty program. More than a million fewer applicants suggested that many people are willing to run the risk for the money, but they don't want to stay here (and who could blame them, especially in the era of President Plump?).
This is definitely something the right can exploit--the lump of labor fallacy and the old "taking American jobs" BS probably still play well in Peoria. But Americans don't do stoop labor, and increasingly, don't do dish-washing and "You want fries wid dat?" labor either. The challenge for the Democrats is how to get past the moronic but usually successful rightwingnut propaganda.
