Poll: 62% of US voters oppose Obama's plan to mainstream illegal immigrants
Obama heads to Chicago to pitch immigration steps while Ferguson burns – as poll shows 62 per cent of voters oppose his plan to mainstream illegal immigrants
- Trip was scheduled before chaos took over streets of St. Louis suburb
- But Obama risks being seen as tone deaf by pushing for an unpopular policy objective in the midst of a national emergency
- Rasmussen poll shows a massive majority of likely voters – 62 per cent – oppose his plan to give millions of illegal immigrants a temporary amnesty
- Obama plan also includes work permits for millions not currently allowed to hold US jobs
- Only 24 per cent now say Obama has the legal authority to change immigration policy without agreement from Congress
- A 55-per cent majority believe federal lawmakers should challenge him in court
By David Martosko, US Political Editor for MailOnline and Associated Press
Published: 02:21 EST, 25 November 2014 | Updated: 19:49 EST, 25 November 2014
President Barack Obama is returning Tuesday to the city where he says he first forged his ties to the Latino community to pitch his new executive actions on immigration, on a day when a suburb of St. Louis is recovering from massive overnight riots 300 miles away.
The president's decision to give an expected lengthy speech in the Windy City after devoting just nine minutes Monday night to calling for calm in Ferguson, Missouri, will open him up to criticism that he's both insensitive and politically tone deaf.
He said Monday night in response to a single question he took from a reporter at the White House that no decision has been made about whether he will visit Ferguson personally.
But his interest in barnstorming to generate interest in his immigration policy obsession comes as a new poll shows a large majority of likely U.S. voters believe he's wrong.
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President Barack Obama took off for Chicago a day after a Ferguson, Missouri grand jury decided not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown
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NOT JUST MISSOURI: Chicago protesters came out in large numbers on Monday night, underscoring that the city's Democratic base may be more interested in the Michael Brown case than in immigration reform
Obama, the onetime community organizer, is trying to seize the advantage in the heated dispute over the contentious issue while Congress is on a Thanksgiving recess and Republicans scramble to coalesce behind a unified opposition strategy.
The Rasmussen poll released Monday afternoon and lost in the overwhelming news coverage of the Ferguson riots found that 62 per cent oppose Obama's decision to grant legal amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants without approval from Congress.
Just 26 per cent are in favor of Obama's plan.
After years of claiming he couldn't act unilaterally to enact immigration reform because of the U.S. Constitution's emphasis on a separation of executive and legislative powers, Obama declared last week that he had the legal authority to do so on a temporary basis.
Only 24 per cent of those who spoke to Rasmussen's pollsters agree.
Fifty-seven per cent said he was right the first time, deciding that he not have the legal right to implement his plan.
Worse for the White House, 55 per cent told Rasmussen that Congress should challenge Obama's executive actions in court.
The president spoke Chicago community leaders, part of an ongoing effort to defend and promote his decision to bypass Congress and direct sweeping executive actions that could spare millions of immigrants illegally in the United States from being deported.
His plan also threatens to open the employment floodgates as those temporarily 'legal' immigrants win eligibility for work authorization cards.
MailOnline reviewed polling data that indicates Americans are even more upset about the prospect of losing jobs to illegal immigrants at a time when the overall U.S. labor participation rate is its lowest since 1978.
Obama said Monday night that a presidential visit to Ferguson is still an open question.
'Let’s take a look and see how things are going,' the president said Monday night at the White House. [Attorney General] Eric Holder has been there. We've had a whole team from the Justice Department there, and I think that they have done some very good work.'
Obama will speak in Chicago at a center in the city's predominantly Polish-American far northwest side, underscoring how his immigration measures would affect more than Latino immigrants. Chicago has the largest population of Poles in the United States.
Under a series of measures Obama announced last week, nearly 5 million immigrants will be eligible to avoid deportation and sign up for work permits. The number who could benefit represents about 45 percent of the total number of immigrants who either entered the country illegally or have overstayed their visas.
Republicans have vowed to rein Obama in, but have not fallen behind any specific plan.
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SEEYA: Obama will dodge controversy by speaking 300 miles away from Ferguson
Obama speaks to the people of Ferguson after grand jury
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Rioters set police cars like this one ablaze on Monday night after a grand jury declined to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown
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SIGNS OF THE TIMES: The Ferguson protests came the Obama's doorstep last night as activists with pre-printed signs converged on the White House shortly after the president delivered brief remarks
Chicago is Obama's hometown – he worked in the city as a community organizer in the 1980s – and its metropolitan area has the fifth largest Latino population in the country.
Obama is expected to highlight what the White House says are the economic advantages of his executive decision and to counter Republican criticism that his measures exceed his authority. The Chicago visit is his second trip out of Washington to draw attention to his actions since he announced them Thursday. Last Friday, the president spoke in Las Vegas, another city with a large Latino population.
Obama has a mixed history in Chicago over the question of immigration. He conceded in his 2006 book 'The Audacity of Hope' that his experiences there led him to reflect on the meaning of citizenship and 'my sometimes conflicted feelings about all the changes that are taking place.'
In 2006, when he was a senator from Illinois, he denied a request from about 30 Mexican nationals living in Chicago for a special piece of legislation that would protect them from deportation. The decision infuriated immigration activists in the city.
But Obama has also backed an overhaul of immigration law, and while he initially angered advocacy groups by delaying his executive actions until after this month's midterm elections, last week's measures have generally been greeted with enthusiasm from immigration advocates and Latino groups.
