Not with WWII - completely different situation. And historically, illegal immigration and the border was typically a bi-partisan issue.
But since this became a highly politicized issue during this last election, you get what we have here now - "which is the way they want it - well, they'll get it."
Since you seem to be asking - these are my thoughts on the issue:
Legal Immigration is fine. This is a country that was built by immigrants. Even prior to the establishment of the United States in 1776, early settlers came from various parts of the world. Only Native Americans can claim "not to be immigrants" when it comes to America.
That said, illegal immigration is not "fine" - at least not to the extent it reached over the past several years. A small % of illegal immigration has been somewhat tolerated over the years. It's when illegal immigration reaches record levels without the necessary judicial processes and/or deportations that should follow mass illegal immigration - is when it becomes a problem.
To begin, illegal immigration sets a bad precedent from the start. A person knowingly enters the country illegally and on his/her very first step on American soil, breaks the law. This person will be forced to lead a lower class life, in the shadows of society and would be considered "lesser" by society because of the person's status. The tragedy is that many of these people would prefer to be considered "lesser" here vs first class citizens in their own country of origin.
Why is this happening at such alarming rates? Human trafficking has become a lucrative industry for organized crime. Many of these people give their life savings to these groups in order for them to secure entry into the U.S. Some of them are "tied" to these groups for years - sometimes longer - paying them for their services or "protection" even after they enter the U.S.
For the United States, it can create an expensive burden in terms of border control, judicial processing, enforcement, politics, and so forth. It also creates an influx of undocumented labor that can affect some areas - but usually that isn't nearly as much of an issue as some make it out to be. Most of the jobs illegal immigrants do are the jobs most Americans do not want to do - there is a demand for their type of labor in the workforce.
Unfortunately, with illegal immigration, there is no control of who (or what) enters the country. You can have criminals, people who are trafficked against their will, drug mules, drugs, or worse all entering illegally.
That said, the idea is to take the immigration process out of the hands of organized crime and back into the hands of the people who want to immigrate here AND do it legally - so that they are fully documented to begin their lives in the U.S.
Ideally, once the current issue subsides, the United States can begin to focus on streamlining legal immigration - the same way many Americans and our ancestors came to this country - with their heads raised high.
