65% Put Border Control Ahead of Legalizing Illegal Immigrants


Friday, September 16, 2011

With the Legal Workforce Act, a bill forcing companies to check the immigration status of their employees, working its way through Congress, voters nationwide continue to believe overwhelmingly that when it comes to immigration legislation the focus should be on the border.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 65% of Likely U.S. Voters say it is more important to gain control of the border than to legalize the status of those already living illegally in the United States. Twenty-eight percent (28%) feel legalizing the status of illegal immigrants is more important. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Fifty-seven percent (57%) favor a welcoming immigration policy that is designed to keep out only national security threats, criminals and those who come here to live off our welfare system. Twenty-eight percent (28%) disagree with this kind of immigration policy, while 14% are undecided.

Findings for both questions are consistent with surveys dating back to 2006.

The survey of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on September 12-13, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Eighty-three percent (83%) of Republicans and 70% of voters not affiliated with either political party support gaining control of the border over legalizing the status of illegal immigrants already in the country. A plurality (47%) of Democrats believes legalizing those already here illegally should come first.

Seventy percent (70%) of white voters favor border security over legalizing illegal immigrants, a view shared by only 47% of blacks and 45% of voters of other races.

Voters over the age of 40 are more supportive of border control than younger voters are, although the majority of voters in all age demographics favor securing the border over legalizing the status of those here illegally.

A solid majority across the demographic board agree with a welcoming immigration policy that excludes national security threats, criminals and those who come to America to live off the welfare system.

Most voters nationwide continue to believe government policies encourage illegal immigration and support using the military along the U.S.-Mexican border. But they remain divided as to whether the federal government or individual states should enforce immigration laws.

Voters have consistently supported tough penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants, but 49% believe that illegal immigrants do the jobs Americans don’t want to do.

Most voters also oppose public schooling, tuition breaks and driver's license for illegal immigrants.

www.rasmussenreports.com