In NYC, illegals doesn't mean just Hispanics, there are large numbers of Asians, Irish, Italian, and Russian illegals, plus assorted others, circulating in their own ethnic communities (There is of course a Hispanic community, but in NYC that's predominantly Puerto Ricans, who can come and go legally). He's playing for the home audience in a sense, as well as trying to give himself some national gravitas on an issue he doesn't have to deal with in the same context as the rest of the country.
I'm all for him emigrating, though.
