I mean yeah this is the arguement. Democrats don't oppose deportation they just want it done according to the law. No deportation without hearing/due proccess, access to medical care for detaines, no alligator auschwitz, no deportation to random countries, no sending detainees to El Salvadorian prison, no stealing citizens passports, and the list keeps going.
When immigration enforcement is done via legal channels it is at least controlled and there is due proccess. I don't like that we handle immigration this way at all, but it doesn't take a genius to see things were way better before.
And yes the way things were before was bad too, and inherently inhumane, but this has been way worse