Thread: NV: Poll reveals citizens favor border fence, employer...

Nevadans want end to illegal residency

Poll reveals citizens favor border fence, employer penalties

By LYNNETTE CURTIS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Nevadans and other Westerners overwhelmingly support efforts to stop illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border, including completing construction of a border fence and penalizing employers who hire undocumented workers, according to a new regional poll.

More than three-quarters of Nevadans said they support such efforts, while 71 percent of people regionally said so.





Pollsters asked 400 likely voters in each of six states several questions to gauge how Westerners feel about the issue of illegal immigration, which has shifted out of the national spotlight somewhat since 2006's massive marches and the failure of last year's immigration reform act.

The telephone poll, commissioned jointly by the Review-Journal, the Denver Post and the Salt Lake Tribune, was conducted Aug. 13-15 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based independent polling firm. The states polled were Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Although Westerners were unequivocal in their support of efforts to stop illegal immigration, they also said they prefer that undocumented immigrants already working in the U.S. be offered a chance to apply for legal status rather than be deported back to their native country.

Regionally, 53 percent favored the legal status approach, compared to 38 percent who favored deportation. In Nevada, 48 percent said undocumented immigrants should have a shot at legalization, while 42 percent said they should be deported.

The regional results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Individual state results have a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

"It's a mixed bag with immigration," said Brad Coker, managing partner with Mason-Dixon. "People want border security and to have laws enforced, but they also understand there are people here working who are probably good for the economy."

Pollsters also asked whether respondents felt that immigrants from Mexico and other countries in Latin America have had more of a positive or negative effect on life in the Western United States. Results were mixed regionally, but in Nevada only 31 percent chose "positive," compared to 47 percent who said "negative."

Andres Ramirez, vice president of Hispanic programs at NDN, a Washington, D.C.-based Democratic think tank and advocacy organization, said such sentiments point to a "misunderstanding about the role that immigrants play in America."

"In a moment where the average American is suffering in this economic downturn, people are always looking for a cause to point to," he said.

Nevada Assemblyman Ty Cobb, R-Reno, said the question was unfair because it lumps together all immigrants from the region, instead of singling out illegal immigrants.

"I have a feeling people were confused by that," he said. "We're all immigrants. No one's saying we don't appreciate people who take time to do it the right way."

Cobb is pursuing a bill for the 2009 legislative session that would prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving state assistance and getting Nevada driver's licenses.

He wasn't surprised by the overwhelming support of efforts to stop illegal immigration. "It's common sense that you want to have a secure border," he said. "We want to allow people in who do it the right way, through a regimented and legal process."

But Ramirez, who splits his time between Washington and his home in North Las Vegas, said asking people whether they support efforts to stop illegal immigration is a "loaded question."

"Of course no one wants people to be coming here illegally," he said. "Undocumented immigrants themselves want to stop illegal immigration. Even immigrants' rights groups will tell you we don't want illegal immigration."

Hispanic poll respondents regionally also supported efforts to stop illegal immigration, with 54 percent saying they are in favor of such efforts. Twenty-nine percent of Hispanics opposed the efforts.

When asked whether they felt most illegal immigrants working in the U.S. perform jobs that others will not take or instead take jobs away from other workers, 50 percent of Nevadans said immigrants take jobs others won't take. Forty percent said illegal immigrants take jobs from other workers. The regional results were similar.

Among Hispanics, nearly three-quarters said illegal immigrants perform jobs others won't take.

The outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries should be of more concern to Americans than losing jobs to illegal immigrants, Ramirez said.

"Many of the jobs we are losing are not due to undocumented immigrants; they're a result of the globalized market."

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/27343794.html

They should have asked the legal Hispanics if the illegal aliens displace legal Hispanics from jobs. They seem to be able to understand he question as it impacts themselves better than the impact it has on the general public.