Poll of likely caucusgoers shows support for legal immigration

desmoinesregister.com
Written by Jason Noble
12:04 PM, Dec. 6, 2011

Likely Republican caucus-goers ardently oppose illegal immigration, but a poll conducted last month found largely accommodating views on legal immigration.

Forty-one percent of those surveyed favored increased opportunities for legal immigrants to enter the U.S. workforce, and another 29 percent could live with it. Fully 73 percent of respondents were open to allowing foreign-born students to go to work in the U.S. after graduation.

An even larger majority —79 percent — favored or could live with streamlining the processes for businesses to hire immigrants for seasonal and full-time jobs that Americans aren’t taking.

Overall, 57 percent said reforming U.S. immigration policy to expand legal immigration was a good idea, and 28 percent said they would favor such efforts.

“There is clearly an appetite for working to solve problems with our legal immigration system and Iowa Republicans make the connection that doing so can help grow our economy,â€