---
title: "Most don’t think legal status would “reward” those here illegally"
description: "A majority of Americans do not feel that giving unauthorized immigrants  legal status would be like rewarding them for doing something wrong."
date: "2013-05-20"
authors:
  - name: "Bruce Drake"
    job_title: "Former Senior Editor"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/bruce-drake/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/05/20/most-dont-think-legal-status-would-reward-those-here-illegally-2/"
---

# Most don’t think legal status would “reward” those here illegally

As the Senate wrestles with [proposed legislation](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/senators-immigration-legislation-provisions/) to give a chance at citizenship to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, one of the arguments made against such a measure by opponents is that granting legal status [would reward them](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/07/foes-of-immigration-amnesty-mobilizing/1972487/) for breaking the law.

[![](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2013/05/5-9-13-5.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/05/09/most-say-immigration-policy-needs-big-changes/#immi-reward)

However, a May survey found that a majority of Americans (56%) do not feel that giving people in the United States illegally a way to gain legal status would be like rewarding them for doing something wrong. About four-in-ten (37%) say giving them a way to obtain legal status would be tacitly rewarding wrongdoing.

Most Democrats (64%) and independents (58%) say that giving those in the U.S. illegally a way to gain legal status would not amount to a reward for bad behavior. Republicans are divided: 49% say it would be like rewarding them for wrongdoing, while 44% disagree.

As might be expected, those who favor finding a way for those in the U.S. illegally to stay in the country legally do not view a path to legal status as a reward for wrongdoing (by 67% to 27%). By nearly an identical margin (69% to 26%), those who oppose legal status for those here illegally do see it as a tacit reward for wrongdoing. [Read more](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2013/05/09/most-say-immigration-policy-needs-big-changes/#immi-reward)