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January 11, 2010
Poll shows broad support for immigration reform
Immigrant advocacy groups are touting a new nationwide poll today that shows a clear majority of Americans support comprehensive immigration reform in Congress.

The poll results were released today by pro-immigrant America's Voice and Benenson Strategy Group, a research and consulting firm, which conducted the December survey of 800 likely voters.

Here are key findings in the poll:

According to the recent poll, 65 percent of voters want Congress to take up immigration reform this year rather than wait until later.

Sixty-six percent of respondents supported immigration reform without hearing details of the plan.

Support for reform was consistent across party lines. Sixty-nine percent of Democrats, 67 percent of independents and 62 percent of Republicans endorsed reform.

Survey respondents supported immigration reform at a higher percentage when they were told details about the plan.

The most common immigration reform plans include requiring illegal immigrants to register with the government and meet certain conditions, including working, paying taxes and learning English in order to apply for citizenship. That version of reform was supported by 87 percent of respondents to the December poll.


America's Voice says "these findings show continued support for reform following similar polls in November 2008 and May 2009, even during the country's harshest economic crisis in decades."

Says Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice:

Clearly the American people recognize that the problems in the immigration system can no longer be ignored and that fixing the broken immigration system is consistent with fixing the economy. They understand what is at stake and want their elected officials to act soon. That support for comprehensive immigration reform crosses party lines suggests that the issue is ripe for a bipartisan breakthrough in Washington, DC.

The Federation for Immigration Reform on its Web site says that illegal immigration and mass immigration are harming the country. FAIR, which touts itself as the nation's largest immigration reform organization, says true reform must adhere to some basic principles:

Any level of illegal immigration is unacceptable, and current legal immigrant admissions of about one million persons each year are entirely too many. Any measure that increases either illegal or legal immigration violates this principle. Immigration is a discretionary public policy. Its primary purpose, since our founding, is to advance the interests and security of the nation.

The 1986 amnesty was a failure; rather than reducing illegal immigration, it led to an increase. Any new amnesty measure will further weaken respect for our immigration law. Therefore, all amnesty measures must be defeated.
Laws against illegal immigration must be enforced, if they are going to act as a deterrent. Redefining illegal aliens as "guest-workers" or anything else is just that: a redefinition that attempts to hide the fact it is an amnesty, not reform.


Immigration Reform Poll




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