How do Americans feel about immigration?
por, C.J. Correa Bernier, PhD
While the U.S. economy and inflation have traditionally been the top concerns for Americans, immigration has now taken the lead, a shift that has been rare in Gallup’s trend and not seen since 2019. A 2022 Gallup poll revealed that 70 percent of Americans viewed immigration as beneficial for the United States, a slight 5 percent drop from the previous year. However, a majority still perceived illegal immigration as a “critical” threat to U.S. national security, indicating the complex nature of public opinion on this issue.
According to a separate poll conducted the same year by television network NewsNation and Decision Desk HQ, a website that reports election results, nearly 70 percent of voters surveyed supported a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already living in the United States.
The last push for a significant immigration overhaul came in 2013, following a decade of intense and complex debates in Congress. These discussions covered numerous immigration reforms, some considered comprehensive and others piecemeal. (Comprehensive immigration reform refers to omnibus legislation that addresses the following issues: demand for high- and low-skilled labor, the legal status of the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the country, border security, and interior enforcement.) The last comprehensive legislation to make it through Congress was under President Ronald Reagan in 1986; it granted legal amnesty to some three million undocumented residents. In 2007, President George W. Bush worked with congressional Democrats to reach a compromise on a new comprehensive bill, but it ultimately failed to win enough support in the Senate.
The United States exhibits a variety of approaches to dealing with unauthorized immigrants. For instance, states like California and Massachusetts have implemented policies that enable undocumented immigrants to apply for driver’s licenses, receive in-state tuition at universities, and access other benefits. On the other hand, states like Texas have passed laws mandating that local governments and law enforcement agencies cooperate with federal immigration officers. This diversity of approaches underscores the multifaceted and complex nature of the immigration issue in the United States.
The federal government is generally responsible for enforcing immigration laws but delegates some immigration-related duties to state and local law enforcement. However, the degree to which local officials are obliged to cooperate with federal authorities is a subject of intense debate. As of 2019, almost one-quarter of U.S. counties have limited their cooperation with ICE, according to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.