Posted on 05/03/2006 7:45:44 PM PDT by nckerr
WASHINGTON, May 3 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A new Zogby poll of likely voters, using neutral language (i.e., avoiding the words "amnesty" or "illegal alien"), finds that Americans prefer the House of Representatives' enforcement-only bill by 2-1 over Senate proposals to legalize illegal immigrants and greatly increase legal immigration. The poll was conducted for the Center for Immigration Studies. Complete results are on line at:
http://www.cis.org/articles/2006/2006poll.html.
-- On immigration generally, Americans want less, not more, immigration. Only 26 percent said immigrants were assimilating fine and that immigration should continue at current levels, compared to 67 percent who said immigration should be reduced so we can assimilate those already here.
-- While the Senate is considering various bills that would increase legal immigration from 1 million to 2 million a year, only 2 percent of Americans believe current immigration is too low. This was true for virtually every grouping in the survey by ethnicity, income, age, religion, region, party, or ideology.
-- When offered by itself, there is strong support for the House bill: 69 percent said it was a good or very good idea when told that it tries to make illegals go home by fortifying the border, forcing employer verification, and encouraging greater cooperation with local law enforcement, while not increasing legal immigration; 27 percent said it was a bad or very bad idea.
-- Support for the House approach was widespread, with 81 percent of Republicans, 72 percent of independents, 57 percent of Democrats, and 53 percent of Hispanics saying it was good or very good idea.
-- When offered by itself, there is also some support for the Senate approach, though not as much as for the House bill: 42 percent said the Senate approach was a good or very good idea when told it would allow illegal immigrants to apply for legal status provided they met certain criteria, and it would significantly increase legal immigration and increase enforcement of immigration laws; 50 percent said it was a bad or very bad idea.
-- There were few groups in which a majority supported the Senate plan, even when presented by itself. Exceptions included Hispanics, 62 percent of whom said it was a good or very good idea, and the most liberal voters (progressives), 54 percent of whom approved of it.
-- When given three choices (House approach, Senate approach, or mass deportation), the public tends to reject both the Senate plan and mass deportations in favor of the House bill; 28 percent want the Senate plan, 12 percent want mass deportations, while 56 percent want the House approach.
-- But when given a choice between just the House and Senate approaches, without the choice of mass deportations, the public prefers the House approach 64 percent to 30 percent.
-- One reason the public does not like legalization is that they are skeptical of the need for illegal-immigrant labor. An overwhelming majority of 77 percent said there are plenty of Americans to fill low-wage jobs if employers pay more and treat workers better; just 15 percent said there are not enough Americans for such jobs.
-- Another reason the public does not like Senate proposals to legalize illegals and double legal immigration is that 73 percent said they had little or no confidence in the ability of the government to screen these additional applicants to weed out terrorists and criminals.
-- The public also does not accept the argument we have tried and failed to enforce the law: 71 percent felt that past enforcement efforts have been "grossly inadequate," while only 19 percent felt we had made a "real effort" to enforce our laws.
The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-partisan research organization which examines and critiques the impact of immigration on the United States.
http://www.usnewswire.com/
Good news, that is if congress pays any attention.
>>-- While the Senate is considering various bills that would increase legal immigration from 1 million to 2 million a year, only 2 percent of Americans believe current immigration is too low<<
You cant look at the legal and illegal numbers seperately - we need to look at the total.
This is one Zogby poll that's dead on arrival. If it is reported at all it will be with spin that will make you wonder if it's the same poll you read here or if it's from another planet entirely.
I wonder if the Republicans have read this. They should read it; November will be here before they know it.
HELLO Ken Mehlman, Karl Rove, President Bush!! Are you listening??
OK, let's assume we make illegally being in the United States a felony.
What percentage of illegal aliens should be incarcerated?
Yeah, you three guys are the best!
Any of them that won't leave, and are stopped for any infraction of the law. Sounds fair to me.
OK.
The illegal aliens decide to call your bluff and don't leave.
So, what percentage do you think would get stopped for any infraction of the law?
If you take away the freebies and make it economically unfeasible to employ illegals (i.e., fine employers of illegals), then incarcerating illegals should be a moot point.
But, didn't we read a few days ago that Hastert was caving and putting people on the conference committee that would go along with the Senate side?
Enough to get the word out that it's not wise to break our laws by entering illegally.
Fining employers sounds easy in principle, but is extremely difficult in practice. The prosecution must prove that the employer KNOWINGLY hired an illegal alien, and that means proving a specific state of mind--and that is almost impossible absent an employer confessing.
How many is that? Give me a hard number.
If so, I guess that means that he no longer wants to be Speaker of the House.
I'm not saying that we should round em up like we did to the Japanese, but if they have an encounter with law enforcement, they should be subject to the laws they have broken. Just like you and I are.
You keep dodging the question.
One more time: how many illegal aliens do you propose to incarcerate once they call your bluff?
How many do you think will be incarcerated under this proposal?
Give me a number.
I don't have my crime statistics handbook with me right now, but I would assume you could google it.
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