Jan Ting on Competition between Illegal Aliens and Global Automakers

It's natural for a candidate like Jan Ting, who is running for the U.S. Senate as a Republican, to use the events of the day to underscore his campaign message. But does Jan Ting really think that illegal immigration has anything to do with the fate of the Chrysler plant? The News Journal reports that he somehow does:

He [Ting] also said that the possible shutdown of the plant “plugs into illegal immigration,” one of his top campaign themes.
“Chrysler, in the global economy, is in competition with illegal aliens,” Ting said.

Is he serious?
Illegal immigrants are generally thought to occupy the lowest rungs of the economic ladder. Automobile factories require hundreds of millions of dollars in capital investment.
The kindest explanation for such a preposterous statement is that Ting is suffering from late campaign season burn-out.