Many people treat immigration as a "problem." The Right make much noise about it, albeit without really doing anything about it; in part, because it really isn't a "problem," other than the fact that popular perception of it as such makes them acknowledge it publicly; and they wish to point to the Left as being uninterested in the views of the people. Of course, the actual strategists for the Right are smart enough to know that immigration is a major part of what makes America a strong country with a (generally) healthy economy, so they make the right noises for the voters without actually taking real steps to curtail immigration. It must also be understood that some of the industries where illegal immigrants account for a part of the workforce, have lobby groups keeping the politicians from taking real action in order to keep company costs low. The Right-wing strategists therefore have a dual motivation for sitting on the fence, while verbalizing pointless and ineffectual jargon that makes them sound more "concerned" with the poor man's predominantly racist attitudes towards people that look and sound different, wear different clothes and eat different food, and worship a marginally different god.
Why is immigration considered to be a problem? Because of the increased competition for jobs (at least as far as publicly acceptable reasons are concerned); and because of prejudice against foreigners and foreign cultures (though this can't be stated publicly by proponents of increased controls and limitations). Also, there is a popular misconception of a connection between immigration on the one hand and increased crime and increased demand for public resources for the poor on the other (despite the enormous mass of evidence which actually suggests otherwise).
Why isn't it an actual problem? First of all, the competition for jobs is a myth, for the most part. Immigrants (especially the illegal ones that everyone gets up in arms about) generally get the sorts of jobs that most Americans choose not to fill, even when times are hard and jobs are scarce. In truth, it really isn't so much that Americans "won't" do these jobs; but Americans want way more money than meat packing plants and farms want to, or are able to, pay. These jobs are filled by immigrants because no one else shows up for them (and because the illegals are a "captive" workforce, unable to organize for higher wages for fear that they'd be deported). The better types of jobs, and the better paying jobs, that most Americans are concerned will go to the immigrants almost never do; companies don't hire people with language or cultural barriers when they don't have to. There are also legal and administrative difficulties involved with hiring (either legally or otherwise) non-citizens for work in the US, and penalties for hiring illegals.
Another reason why the "immigrants stealing American jobs" idea is a myth is the simple fact, always deliberately ignored by the Right in fanning protest, that every additional person in the country means one more person spending money and contributing to the economy by adding jobs in order to increase output to service the demand. An immigrant is one more person paying rent to a landlord, who has extra money to keep up his property, paying maintenance firms more money for upkeep, or putting more money into his bank account for that bank to use for domestic investments. An immigrant is one more person who wants to buy and operate a cell phone, paying money to a phone service that wouldn't have had that money, and which will be used for additional services which require putting their workers on for longer hours for more money, or hiring additional workers for the extra hours. An immigrant buys food and beverages from American stores, giving them more money for buying and stocking more product, and putting more workers on (or working their staff for more hours) to service that need. Transport and distribution companies then have more product to ship; again, more workers and/or longer hours for their people. An immigrant will want to spend money on entertainment, which again will be money that the recipient companies wouldn't have had otherwise. It is, of course, true that immigrants often have family in their country of origin to whom they send some of the money they earn here; but they still have to survive, and they still manage to buy cars, phones, TVs, and pay rent and utilities; all of that money is extra consumerism and extra money going to the merchants selling these products and services.
The reason why all of this money is additional income for our economy is that, again, these immigrants are not for the most part taking jobs away from US citizens, but are filling hard to fill slots that companies can't keep filled without them (or wouldn't be offering as many of at the higher wages needed to attract citizens and legal immigrants). Immigrants have a hard time getting the "good" jobs that Americans want, and yet they still find work when they get here, because there is a constant demand for them. Another reason why all of this money is additional is that, for US citizens, there is an unemployment system that provides a minimal income for workers out of work and looking for jobs; even in the hypothetical case of a citizen losing work to an immigrant (say for less pay for the immigrant), most workers still have a temporary income to spend while the immigrant brings in an income as well, so that now there are two incomes where formerly there was one. Ultimately, the effect of the increase to the population is to increase the number of jobs available and in demand; this growth forces the job market to expand to meet the needs of the increased demand for products and services. The surest and quickest way to improve an economy is always to encourage it to grow in real size.
So in the end, the only logical argument for closing the holes in the border and enforcing the laws more strictly (both of which require substantial outlays, which means less money for other things the government could or should be doing - e.g., health care, education, and social services if you ask the Left; or enforcing Christian morality and corporatism, and killing foreigners overseas, if you ask the Right) is that the illegals are different and therefore somehow bad simply because they're foreigners, and the laws certainly allow enough of that kind into our country. It is certainly fortunate that the Right-wing strategists know enough about their business and political careers to know that they can't, and won't, actually do anything about the "problem." Nonetheless, it is also just as unfortunate, and extremely hypocritical, for them to point the blame at the Left for their own lack of movement, and then get political capital out of a situation in which they have no intention or desire to move any faster than the Left.
Immigration is what makes America the great country it is - we ask for the world's tired and poor (however many legal quotas we may throw up to say, "Thanks, that will do us for now."), as well as the prosperous and ambitious, and we make them our citizens, friends, and family members, just the way our country did with our own ancestors who came here from foreign soils. We give them a chance to prove themselves, and we get a bigger economy, and more customers and consumers to sell our wares to, and make more money off of. America has grown enormously and explosively due to the waves of immigrants that came here to work and then give us their hard-earned money. The capitalists and corporate officers know this, the lobby groups in Washington know this, and the politicians of both the Left and the Right know and faithfully abide by this. It is time for the Left to stand proudly on their record (at least for those defending immigration and immigrants), or to return to the values of the people they claim to represent and verbally support immigration and the immigrants themselves trying to join our nation.
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