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The answer is simple: this is a standard strategy governments use in times of economic hardship.
After the 1929 stock market crash, unemployment approached 25%. President Herbert Hoover and other officials promoted removing Mexican workers as a response to unemployment. Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and Mexican Americans were deported, including U.S. citizens. The Library of Congress documents coercion and deception in these removals. The result didn't improve anything... it actually worstened outcomes.
Bonus surprise! It was actually the American government that invited Mexican workers to cross the border and work on our farms; we literally dropped flyers all over Sonora advertising employment--in response to demands made by the U.S. farming labor unions that had convinced domestic workers to go on strike. Remember: we do not negotiate with "terrorists."
In the 1990's, Argentina struggled with unemployment and mounting financial problems, so President Menem's government increasingly targeted immigrants from Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru. In January 1999, Menem publicly linked undocumented immigration with crime. Sociologists accused the government of using immigrants as scapegoats for unemployment and insecurity--not to mention the proportion of immigrants had barely changed, undermining claims of an immigration explosion.
More recently, politicians in Italy, Britain, and Switzerland linked immigrant labor with unemployment and advocated for preferential treatment for national workers. This followed a significant banking collapse and spending cuts.
It's not even new. This particular tactic has been wisely used to distract people from growing financial crises for hundreds of years: Poverty --> Public Frustration and Distrust --> Immigration Becomes the Focal Point. (It's the dirty Joos!)
Why? So you point your torches and pitchforks at someone that isn't them.
