Americans Worried About Immigration, Oppose Bush Plan

PRINCETON, NJ -- Two-thirds of Americans are convinced that immigration mostly hurts the U.S. economy by driving wages down, and three-quarters say that the United States should not make it easier for illegal immigrants to become U.S. citizens. A majority also opposes the recently proposed Bush administration plan that would allow some illegal immigrants in the United States to stay in this country if they took jobs that citizens did not want.

Americans' attitudes toward immigration in general have undergone wide changes over the last 40 years.

Back in 1965 when Gallup first asked the public if immigration should be kept at its present level, increased, or decreased (using the question wording shown above) slightly more Americans said that immigration should be kept at its present level (39%) than said it should be decreased (33%). Very few felt that immigration levels should be increased (7%).

Since that time, there has been significant change in the percentages of the public who say that immigration should be decreased as opposed to staying the same (few Americans at any point in time want immigration to be increased). The number of Americans who believe that immigration should be decreased rose to as high as 65% in 1993 and 1995, times at which most indicators of the public's perceptions of the economy were quite negative. As the economy got better, Americans' interest in decreasing immigration fell, to the point in June 2001 where 41% said immigration levels should be decreased, while just about as many -- 42% -- said the immigration level should be kept the same.

But two things have happened since then that no doubt have affected attitudes toward immigration: the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and a significant downturn in the economy, including, in particular, a continued majority opinion on the part of Americans that now is a difficult time to be looking for a quality job. Thus, it is not surprising to find that the percentage of Americans who wanted immigration levels to be decreased jumped to 58% in a poll conducted in October 2001. Gallup's annual update on immigration attitudes this past summer continued to find that desire for immigration levels to be decreased was higher than interest in immigration levels staying the same, by a 47% to 37% margin.

We find a similar pattern in responses to a separate question asking about the impact of immigration on the U.S. economy.

Here again, during the "boom" years of 1999 and 2000, just about as many Americans said that immigrants helped the economy by providing low-cost labor as said immigrants hurt the economy. Now, in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted Jan. 9-11, the response patterns to this question are back to what they were in 1993, with two-thirds of Americans saying that immigrants hurt the economy by driving down wages.

Thus it's clear that the current public opinion environment is one in which Americans are fairly negative toward immigration, which in turn suggests that this is not a particularly propitious time to attempt to convince Americans that illegal immigrants should either be allowed to become citizens or to stay in this country under a new, legal status.

This is underscored by the responses to a question that asks Americans directly if the country should make it easier for illegal immigrants to become citizens.

Responses to this question were negative in August 2001 (just before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks) and have become even more so today, with three-quarters of the public saying that it should not be easier for those in this country illegally to become citizens.

The Bush immigration proposal would not make illegal immigrants citizens, but would instead, as the White House Web site characterizes it:

…match willing foreign workers with willing U.S. employers when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs. The program would be open to new foreign workers, and to the undocumented men and women currently employed in the U.S. This new program would allow workers who currently hold jobs to come out of hiding and participate legally in America's economy while not encouraging further illegal behavior.

The public is less resistant to this plan than it is to the overall idea of making illegal immigrants citizens, but a majority of Americans nevertheless oppose the proposed Bush plan as it was described to them in the Jan. 9-11 CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll.

As you may know, President Bush has proposed a plan that would allow some illegal immigrants currently in the U.S. to legally stay in this country for several years as long as they hold jobs that no U.S. citizen wanted to do. The plan would require these immigrant workers to return to their countries after their time under this program had expired. Do you favor or oppose this plan?

As indicated above, the question explicitly mentioned that the immigration reform plan had been proposed by President Bush. For this or perhaps for other reasons, Republicans are more likely to support the plan than others, although 4 out of 10 Republicans say they oppose it.

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,003 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Jan. 9-11, 2004. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Plan For Immigration Reform Dismays Many Conservatives

"As we speak, our borders are being inundated with people who think they might get an amnesty," said Rep. Tom Tancredo (R.-Colo.), chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus. Tancredo predicted the plan would not pass the House and contested the President's suggestion that America's current immigration laws are the cause of the immigration crisis. "Mr. President," he said, "the executive branch has chosen not to enforce the law."

"For whatever reason, the federal government hasn't enforced the laws on the books," said Rep. J. D. Hayworth (R.-Ariz.).

The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave

In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens.

Immigration politics have similarly harmed New York. Former mayor Rudolph Giuliani sued all the way up to the Supreme Court to defend the city’s sanctuary policy against a 1996 federal law decreeing that cities could not prohibit their employees from cooperating with the INS. Oh yeah? said Giuliani; just watch me. The INS, he claimed, with what turned out to be grotesque irony, only aims to "terrorize people." Though he lost in court, he remained defiant to the end. On September 5, 2001, his handpicked charter-revision committee ruled that New York could still require that its employees keep immigration information confidential to preserve trust between immigrants and government. Six days later, several visa-overstayers participated in the most devastating attack on the city and the country in history.

But enforcing laws against illegal labor is among government’s lowest priorities. In 2001, only 124 agents nationwide were trying to find and prosecute the hundreds of thousands of employers and millions of illegal aliens who violate the employment laws, the Associated Press reports.

Of the incalculable changes in American politics, demographics, and culture that the continuing surge of migrants is causing, one of the most profound is the breakdown of the distinction between legal and illegal entry. Everywhere, illegal aliens receive free public education and free medical care at taxpayer expense; 13 states offer them driver’s licenses. States everywhere have been pushed to grant illegal aliens college scholarships and reduced in-state tuition. One hundred banks, over 800 law-enforcement agencies, and dozens of cities accept an identification card created by Mexico to credentialize illegal Mexican aliens in the U.S. The Bush administration has given its blessing to this matricula consular card, over the strong protest of the FBI, which warns that the gaping security loopholes that the card creates make it a boon to money launderers, immigrant smugglers, and terrorists. Border authorities have already caught an Iranian man sneaking across the border this year, Mexican matricula card in hand.

Illegal aliens and their advocates speak loudly about what they think the U.S. owes them, not vice versa

Clear Law Enforcement For Criminal Alien Removal Act Of 2003 (Clear Act)

Despite the voices of those who naively believe that the influx of this estimated 9 to 13 million illegal aliens into the United States is a positive thing, the fact of the matter is that illegal immigration is having an extremely negative impact upon America at many levels. Unfortunately, the majority of illegal aliens who are here are engaged in criminal activity. Identity theft, use of fraudulent social security numbers and green cards, tax evasion, driving without licenses represent some of the crimes that are engaged in by the majority of illegal aliens on a daily basis merely to maintain and hide their illegal status. In addition, violent crime and drug distribution and possession is also prevalent among illegal aliens.

In summary, let me therefore state unequivocally that as a state prosecutor, I believe that this legislation is necessary. However, I caution you that the ultimate success of this goal will be based upon the political will of both political parties here in Washington. Quite frankly, I am not very optimistic. I believe that both the Republicans and the Democrats are to blame for the present lack of enthusiasm on the part of the government to enforce immigration laws. Business interests that often influence Republican Party politics clearly want cheap labor and often employ illegal aliens in menial jobs paid less than the minimum wage. On the other hand, the Democratic Party continuously at the national level panders to ethnic politics.

Statement

A 29-year veteran assistant chief with the Border Patrol characterized the problem of illegal immigration to me as "worse than epidemic." He said the practice of the Immigration Service has changed – but for the worse, now actually aiding and abetting more and more illegal immigration. This agent said the Immigration and Naturalization Service practice when he started out was to detain all illegal aliens; the only aliens INS released before deportation had extraordinary extenuating circumstances. But now, aliens are routinely released; the only ones held in custody are those with unusual circumstances.

These "let them go" policies and practices have real-world consequences. "Let them go" policies apparently contributed to the year-long rape rampage of Reynaldo Elias Rapalo, the recently apprehended illegal criminal alien from Honduras who is suspected in seven rapes in Miami. Local law enforcement arrested him for "lewd and lascivious" molestation in October 2002, after his visa had expired. But he wasn’t removed from the country.

"Let them go" contributed to the rape of two nuns and the murder of one nun last year in Oregon. El Salvadoran illegal alien Maximiliano Silerio Esparza, who has been indicted in these crimes, had been caught and let go by the Border Patrol, despite his prior criminal record and an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

"Let them go" put Jamaican illegal alien Lee Malvo back on America’s streets after police captured him in Washington State. This occurred just months before the Washington, D.C., sniper shootings of 2002, in which Malvo is a suspect.

Bush Immigration Plan a Bad Idea - David Limbaugh

The fact that even Bush's supporters aren't sure why he's doing this or how he can justify it is all the proof we need that it is wrongheaded. It's a muddled plan, with dubious goals and inevitably negative consequences -- which doesn't bode well for the president's image as a decisive leader with moral clarity.

Beyond undermining the rule of law, this plan devalues the uniqueness of American citizenship by trivializing the laws aimed at making it selective and a special privilege. It sends a message that illegal immigration is a trifling matter.

Every time Dubya makes any domestic move, it seems that he screws a different segment of society. So far, they are only small segments. But, if he keeps on the way he is going, there will be so many small segments that have been screwed by his domestic policy, that they will soon comprise a majority.

The real problem is that a very large number of those that his domestic policy threatens, are conservatives, who almost always vote Republican. At one time, I would have thought it a real stretch, to think that he might alienate enough conservative voters to lose the election. But with this amnesty plan in the mix, Dubya is alienating a lot of conservatives. It's now possible that he might even manage to alienate enough conservatives to give a third party movement a good start. That's not to say that it has reached that level yet. It certainly hasn't. But granting amnesty to illegal aliens is an action that goes a long way toward that end and it's still a long way to election day.

If he were just half as conservative on domestic issues as he is on defense issues, he would be great. Unfortunately, his domestic policy is so far to the left that the damage that he is doing to the Constitution and the economy, far overshadows the good that he is doing abroad. It's time that Dubya start acting like a conservative on domestic issues. I know that it would be asking far too much to suggest the he actually be conservative. I would be glad if he would just act like a conservative for a while.

On the other hand, if he keeps on the way he is going, even a lot of the so-called bushbots will be forced to take their heads out of the sand and that could be his undoing. Although that would present some fairly severe short term problems for both the country and the GOP, since a democrat would probably be elected President, it would almost certainly move Republican lawmakers back to the right and temporarily reintroduce gridlock between Congress and the President, which would result in a net gain, since a gridlocked government won't be rubber stamping Patriot III, IV, V, etc.

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	Favor	Oppose	No opinion
2004 Jan 9-11	42%	55	3

Favor or Oppose Bush's Proposed Immigration Plan
	Favor	Oppose	No Opinion
	%	%	%
Republicans	53	41	6
Independents	39	59	2
Democrats	33	65	2