It appears that there is something like a genuine crisis at the border. To be honest with you, I don’t really care very much, because it doesn’t affect me. I suspect that most Americans feel the same way.
The reactionary right doesn’t, however; it views illegal immigration as a perpetual existential crisis. How would it solve the problem?
Trump had a clear answer to the question– be as cruel as possible in order to persuade the immigrants to stay home. This included family separations, of course. The mainstream of the GOP was appalled by that, so the policy came to an abrupt end. But what other answer is there, from the right-wing perspective? To will the objective, but to deny the means, is hypocrisy.
There are two realities at play here. First, the only answer to the immigration problem is a deal in which legal immigration is increased, and a path to citizenship is provided, in exchange for significantly more border protection. Everyone knows this is the deal, but it won’t happen for the foreseeable future, because the reactionary base won’t permit it. Second, as a result of that, the GOP has no plausible answers to the immigration problem and does not seek any. The Republican Party just wants to use the issue to bash Democrats–period.