For decades the legal term used for people in the country illegally was 'illegal alien'. Call them what you want but it cannot be that the US just opens the borders. Controlled borders and a system for admittance is absolutely necessary, whether Obama is president or Donald is president.
I suspect that there have been fewer pragmatic changes on the ground as they pertain to actual administration of the borders than we're led to believe, but they sure as heck have been politicized big time, by both sides.
Of course, with the intense emphasis on so many 'other' issues, I still want to see the dems focus on meat-and-potato big tent agenda items. Healthcare improvements, shoring up Social Security and Medicare, pragmatic areas where many can agree. Every time I see increased emphasis on identity issues, gender, any number of other fringe issues that drive division and acrimony, I want to scream.
Don't believe for a second that the Democrats have a strong national hand for 2020. Also remember that if you are a leftie, there are almost as many righties in this country as lefties. It is NOT obvious to them that you/we are right about things. Insulting them does nobody any good. We need to attract people, not repel them.