Wall Street Journal
By Miriam Jordan
June 4, 2015
As
immigration emerges as a major issue ahead of the 2016 presidential
race, a new poll found broad public support for legalizing people who
are in the U.S. unlawfully.
But other attitudes about immigration are mixed, according to the
survey by the independent Pew Research Center.
More
than seven out of 10, or 72%, of those polled believe illegal
immigrants in the U.S. should be allowed to remain here, if they meet
certain conditions. That result
is consistent with Pew polls in the past two years that also found
strong support for legalization across political party lines.
About 11 million immigrants, overwhelmingly from Latin America, are living in the U.S. illegally.
“You
see a continuous majority of the public in recent years saying
undocumented immigrants should be able to stay, if certain conditions
are met,” said Carroll Doherty,
Pew’s director of political research.
He noted that the current level constitutes “a pretty high point.”
Support
for legalization had dipped slightly last year, to 68%, as thousands of
children illegally crossed the southwest border into the U.S., many of
them fleeing gang
violence in Central America.
A
path to citizenship has been central to the debate on an overhaul of
immigration laws, an effort that has stalled in Congress. Lawmakers have
disagreed about whether
immigrants here illegally should be allowed to apply for green cards,
which eventually could be converted into citizenship, or whether they
should become part of a new class of legal residents not entitled to citizenship.
Among
those polled by Pew, more than four out of 10 said the immigrants
should be allowed to apply for citizenship and about a quarter said they
should be eligible only
for permanent residency. Another 27% said there should be no
legalization.
The
Pew survey, based on polling of 2,002 adults between May 12 and 18,
found less agreement among respondents about the contributions of
immigrants.
About half of those surveyed believe immigrants strengthen the country, while 41% said they are a burden.
Respondents
with only some college education or with a high school education or
less were significantly more likely to regard immigrants as being a
burden than college
graduates. Nearly two-thirds of college graduates said immigrants are a
boon to the country.
Younger
people tend to regard immigrants more positively. Adults aged 18 to 49
overwhelmingly said they benefit the country. Among those aged 50 to 64,
more than half
said immigrants are a burden.
In
terms of legal immigration, 39% said they support keeping it at the
current level. Among those who said the level should change, 31% favor a
decrease, 24% favor an
increase.
Last
year, President Barack Obama announced plans to grant legal status to
millions of undocumented immigrants who have been in the U.S. for at
least five years, have
a clean record and have children born here. The rollout of this
proposal has been put on hold by a legal challenge in federal court by
several states that oppose it.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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