Poll: Californians support citizenship for long-term illegal immigrants

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer

NORTH COUNTY ---- A poll released this week shows most Californians view illegal immigration as a serious probem but still believe that those who have been in the country for "many years" should be legalized.

More than 4 out of 5 people who responded to the survey said that programs should be set up so that long-time illegal immigrants can become citizens, if they "have a job, learned English and paid back taxes."

Mark DiCamillo, one of the architects of the survey, said what jumped out at him from the survey results is that there is a consensus among Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals.


"It crosses party lines. This is not a divisive issue," he said.

The poll results also showed growing support for a guest worker program, with 67 percent in favor compared with 60 percent a year ago.

However, not everyone agrees with the survey, and there are those who challenge the methodology.

Officials with the well known, San Franciso-based Field Poll said they questioned 570 registered voters statewide in late March. The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Those questioned who favor legalization for long-time illegal immigrants include many in two groups that typically take a hard stance on immigration ---- 76 percent of Republicans and 70 percent of those who define themselves as strong conservatives.

But a significant majority of Republicans and strong conservatives also told pollsters they want to see an increased number of Border Patrol agents on the border, a crackdown on those who employ illegal immigrants and the rounding up and deportation of those who enter the country illegally.

For example, 72 percent of Republican voters and 78 percent of strong conservatives who were polled said they support the idea of having immigration agents arrest and deport illegal immigrants. Contrast those numbers with the 38 percent of Democrats and 18 percent of people who identified themselves as strong liberals who favored sweeps for illegal immigrants.

Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that advocates for stricter enforcement of immigration laws, said Tuesday that he believes the survey was misleading. Because people were asked how they felt about the different proposals individually rather than asking them to choose between options, he believes the results are suspect.

"If you don't ask people, 'Which one of these things would you want?' ---- then it's just a series of options and you can vote for all of them," he said.

The president of the National Border Patrol Council said he wasn't surprised that many conservatives support the idea of legalization.

"In the minds of many people, 'many years' translates to a decade or more,'" said T.J. Bonner, who heads the union that represents about 11,000 rank-and-file Border Patrol agents. "And there is a fair amount of empathy toward long-term illegal aliens who have established roots in the United States."

David Shirk, director for University of San Diego's Trans-Border Institute also said Tuesday that he is not surprised, but for different reasons.

"There has been a recognition on the part of most American citizens that there is a need to address the needs of 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants out there," he said.

One trend highlighted in the survey was the growing number of people opposed to the idea of building a wall along the U.S. Mexican border.

Last year, a Field Poll showed that 48 percent were opposed to the idea. But in the March survey, 59 percent said they were against a wall. Last year, a Republican controlled Congress approved a bill to build a 700-mile-long fence along the U.S. Mexican border. The money to build the wall has not been appropriated.

See the poll report at www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2229.pdf.

-- Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (760) 740-5426, or wbennett@nctimes.com, or wbennett@nctimes.com.



http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/04 ... _10_07.txt