The drama at the border effectively scores points for Dems, and they know it. That's why there's all the outrage now and AOC doing photo shoots, when no one cared under Obama. That's why you had activists hoping for a major border conflict with the caravan, and outside support of the caravan. It was not, er humanitarian. It was and is political.
Note that this peaked in 2018, before the mid-terms. Politicians and activists piled on and wanted the drama, wanted the photos, etc. etc. Solutions? No. Drama? Yes.
Honestly, it works. I wrote letters to my representatives about child separation. Now, I hope. But you cannot trust that all the images are real. People died at the border under Obama too, no one cared then.