Most of the immigrants are coming in through legal means but calling them illegal sounds better if one wants to be alarmist. It’s not true, but it makes for a good story if the narrative is hate.

Besides, Europeans came to the USA illegally and just took over and decided it was theirs. Why was it considered okay for us but not for people actually running from real life and death issues and not just because they were mad at the king and wanted to further colonial values?