Thread: 67% Favor Automatic Police Immigration Checks, Most Support

67% Favor Automatic Police Immigration Checks, Most Support Sanctions on Employers and Landlords

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Most voters continue to favor strong sanctions on employers who hire illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them. Voters also feel strongly that police should check the immigration status of drivers during routine traffic stops.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 67% of Likely U.S. Voters believe that when a police officer pulls someone over for a traffic violation, he should automatically check to see if that person is in the country legally. That’s down slightly from 73% from November 2007 when Rasmussen Reports first asked the question.

Twenty-four percent (24%) say police officers should not make an automatic immigration check on drivers pulled over for traffic violations. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Police checks of this kind are central to Arizona’s new immigration law but are being held up as a U.S. Justice Department challenge of the law works its way through the courts. Most voters continue to support Arizona’s new immigration law and strongly believe states should be able to fight illegal immigration if the federal government is not.

Sixty-six percent (66%) of voters also still favor strict government sanctions on employers who hire illegal immigrants, up from 60% in September 2006 but consistent with polling since then. Only 19% now oppose such sanctions, and 15% are not sure about them.

Union members support employer sanctions slightly more strongly than those who are not in a union.

Fifty-one percent (51%) continue to support strict government sanctions on landlords who rent or sell property to illegal immigrants. That’s up seven points from 44% in the 2006 survey. Twenty-seven percent (27%) now oppose such punishment for those landlords, but 22% are undecided.

A majority of all voters still feel that the policies and practices of the federal government encourage illegal immigration.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on March 8-9 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.

As is often the case, the Political Class and Mainstream voters strongly agree on all three questions. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of those in the Mainstream believe that when a police office pulls someone over for a traffic violation, he should automatically check to see if that person is in the country legally. Nearly as many Political Class voters (76%) disagree.

There’s a similar range of disagreement when it comes to sanctions against landlords who rent or sell to illegal immigrants. But the gap narrows slightly over the issue of sanctions against those who employ illegal immigrants: 76% of Mainstream voters favor them, while a plurality (49%) of the Political Class is opposed.

Most voters still think gaining control of the border is more important in terms of immigration legislation than legalizing the status of undocumented workers already living in the United States. This finding has remained largely unchanged for years. When it comes to illegal immigration, most voters believe the government just needs to enforce the laws that are already on the books rather than create new laws.

There’s little disagreement between male and female voters when it comes to automatic immigration checks during traffic stops, but men are much more supportive of tough sanctions against employers and landlords than women are.

Eighty-six percent (86%) of Republicans and 65% of voters not affiliated with either of the major political parties support the automatic traffic checks, but just 49% of Democrats agree.

Most Republicans and unaffiliated voters favor strict sanctions against landlords who rent or sell to illegal immigrants. Democrats are almost evenly divided on the question.

Majorities of all three groups like the idea of tough sanctions against employers who hire illegal immigrants..

Before the end of the lame duck session of the last Congress in December, voters were evenly divided over whether young people brought to this country illegally by their parents should be viewed as breaking the law.

In August, 58% of Americans opposed automatic citizenship for a child born in this country to an illegal immigrant.

www.rasmussenreports.com

Most voters continue to favor strong sanctions on employers who hire illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them. Voters also feel strongly that police should check the immigration status of drivers during routine traffic stops.

Those are the duties many police officers have been deprived of performing. And yes landlords and employers are the prime reasons illegal aliens remains in this Country. If they were ceased, there would not be as many illegal immigration issues.

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-6148--0-0.html

[quote="jean"]67% Favor Automatic Police Immigration Checks, Most Support Sanctions on Employers and Landlords

There are millions of American citizens who agree with enforcement who's poll votes are not even included! This poll was only a small select group of people. I can guarantee that if every American citizen were to take the poll, it would be more like 85% at LEAST!!