Republicans and Democrats have different top priorities for U.S. immigration policy
There are sizable ideological differences over the most pressing priorities for the U.S. immigration system within each partisan coalition.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
There are sizable ideological differences over the most pressing priorities for the U.S. immigration system within each partisan coalition.
Latinos agree that the U.S. immigration system needs an overhaul; large shares say it requires major changes or needs to be completely rebuilt.
91% of Democrats favor granting legal status to immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children; 54% of Republicans say the same.
There is little support overall for an effort to deport all those in the U.S. illegally, but past surveys have found support for building a barrier along the Mexican border and for banning birthright citizenship.
Immigration continues to loom as a major issue in 2015, following President Obama’s executive actions last year expanding the number of undocumented immigrants permitted to work and stay in the U.S. A roundup of facts about unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. and public opinion.
About as many Hispanics support the current system for deciding immigration cases as do those expediting the process (49% – 47%), which would have the effect of speeding up deportations.
The White House is under pressure from Democrats and Latino leaders to ease deportations, as the number of unauthorized immigrants sent home neared 2 million under the Obama administration. Last week, National Council of La Raza President Janet Murguía called the president the “deporter-in-chief.”
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