Pushing Amnesty Very Risky for GOP

Poll Finds Americans, Especially Republicans, Want Immigration Enforcement

 A new Poll by Pulse Opinion Research shows that likely voters, particularly Republicans, strongly favor enforcement over legalization for illegal immigrants. Unlike a number of other recent polls, the new survey avoids the false choice of conditional legalization versus mass deportation. The survey also shows that a significant majority of Republicans, and voters generally, are less likely to vote for members of Congress or a political party that supports legalization.

The poll is online here

Among the findings:

Of likely Republican voters, 88 percent said they support reducing the illegal immigrant population by requiring employers to check workers’ legal status, fortifying the border, and getting the cooperation of local police. Of all likely voters, 72 percent supported this approach.

The poll does find support for legalizing illegal immigrants. Of likely Republican voters, 47 percent said they support giving illegal immigrants legal status if they pay a fine, study English, and undergo a background check. Of all likely voters, 61 percent support this approach.

When asked which of these two approaches they prefer, 82 percent of Republicans said they support reducing the illegal immigrant population compared to 12 percent who preferred conditional legalization.

Among all likely voters, 58 percent said they support reducing the illegal immigrant population, compared to 31 percent who said they preferred conditional legalization.

Supporting legalization is politically very risky. Of Republican voters, 79 percent said they would be less likely to vote for a member of Congress who supported legalization, while just 8 percent of voters said they would be more likely to vote for a member who supported legalization.

Of all likely voters, 56 percent said they would be less likely to vote for a member of Congress who supports legalization, while just 27 percent said they would be more likely to vote for a member who supports legalization.

A number of conservative evangelical leaders have endorsed the idea of legalizing illegal immigrants. However, among self-identified white evangelicals, enforcement is by far the most popular option: 79 percent said they preferred reducing the illegal immigrant population by enforcing the law, just 13 percent supported legalization with conditions.

 Discussion

In recent months many survey companies and organizations have asked extremely one-sided immigration questions that simply do not reflect the position of those advocating enforcement. Our poll avoids this problem by asking questions that actually reflect the policy debate. We first asked the public whether they would like the law enforced and the illegal immigrant population reduced. We then asked if they would support a conditional legalization. Finally, we asked which approach they prefer. All survey questions can be found in the table at the end of the Backgrounder.

The questions asked avoid the false choice between deporting all illegal immigrants — which no political leader is advocating — and a conditional legalization. The survey uses neutral language, avoiding terms like “amnesty”, “illegal alien,” and “undocumented”. The findings strongly indicate that enforcement is very popular with the public and the preferred way to deal with illegal immigration.

Methods:

The poll was conducted by Pulse Opinion Research for the Center for Immigration Studies and is a national survey of 1,443 likely voters conducted March 26-27. The margin of error is ± 3 for the overall sample of likely voters and ± 4 for Republicans.

The above is a press release from from Center for Immigration Studies. 1522 K St. NW, Suite 820,  Washington, DC 20005, (202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076.  Email: center@cis.org. Contact: Marguerite Telford, 202-466-8185, mrt@cis.org

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent research institution which examines the impact of immigration on the United States.  The Center for Immigration Studies is not affiliated with any other organization






'Whitewash' on influx of Romania migrants into Britain: Official study fails to reveal how many will arrive next year

The only official Government report into future Romanian and Bulgarian migration into Britain has been branded a ‘whitewash’ – after it failed to answer the key question of how many would arrive next year.

From January 1, EU controls on workers from the two countries will expire, allowing almost 29million people free access to work here.

Following repeated refusals by ministers to estimate how many will come, the £30,000 Foreign Office-commissioned study said it was ‘not possible to predict the scale of future migration’ from the two EU countries.

However, the report did warn an influx could lead to pressure on already scarce primary school places, and of high levels of diseases such as measles among Romanian nationals.

The MigrationWatch think-tank has predicted about 50,000 Romanian and Bulgarian migrants could come here every year from next year.

Chairman Sir Andrew Green said: ‘This report is a bucket of whitewash. In 60 pages it provides no estimate whatever. It doesn’t even address the only estimate published so far, by MigrationWatch.’

‘It brushes aside any indication of an increase in migration from these countries.’

Experts say the lack of any firm estimate makes it impossible to prepare for the extra pressure new arrivals could put on public services. They also fear the most significant disruption could be felt in the jobs market.

The report, by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, was published today despite officials receiving it ‘in draft’ as early as December last year.

It blamed lack of ‘current data’ on how many migrants are here, and said there was ‘no agreed definition’ of what migration was.

It said: ‘Estimates of potential migration to the UK are likely to be inaccurate and misleading and our report does not include these.’ It suggested Romanians and Bulgarians will migrate to Spain and Italy – despite much higher unemployment levels there. It said: ‘Survey evidence suggests the UK is not a strongly favoured location.’

The report did warn that families arriving with children could ‘potentially increase pressure’ on primary school places, and are likely to claim child benefit and other  in-work benefits such as tax credits.

It pointed to high levels of measles, mumps and rubella among Romanian nationals and high rates of tuberculosis. And it said there could be ‘added pressure’ on housing.

Those who come are likely to be under 35 and working in low-skilled jobs, it said.

According to a British Labour Force survey, there are 26,000 Bulgarians and 80,000 Romanians already living in the UK.

Last month, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles admitted the Government had ‘no idea’ about the size of the possible influx.

Tory MP Philip Hollobone said: ‘I think they have avoided answering that question because the numbers are likely to be huge.’

SOURCE