Click photo to enlarge
Byron York
Gallup recently asked adults around the country a very simple question about immigration: Are you satisfied, or dissatisfied, with the level of immigration into the United States today? Are too many immigrants coming? Too few? Or is the number just about right?
Before giving the results, it's important to note what that number is. The U.S. awards legal permanent resident status a green card, which means lifetime residency plus the option of citizenship to about 1 million people per year, a rate Sen. Marco Rubio calls "the most generous" on Earth. In addition, the government hands out more than a half-million student and exchange visas each year, tens of thousands of refugee admissions, and about 700,000 visas to temporary workers and their families. The percentage of foreign-born people in the U.S. population is heading toward levels not seen since the period of 1890 to 1910.
So is that too much, or too little? Gallup found that 47 percent of Americans believe the level of immigration should stay where it is. Thirty-nine percent want to see it decreased. And just 7 percent want it increased. (The remaining 7 percent said they don't know.)
Put another way, 86 percent of Americans would like immigration into this country to remain at today's level or to decrease, versus 7 percent who want to see it increase.
"Americans wish to see current record immigration rates lowered, not raised," said the office of Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, who has opposed comprehensive immigration reform measures on Capitol Hill. "Yet the president's 'Gang of Eight' immigration bill ... doubles the number of annual guest workers and triples the number of green cards over the next 10-year period."
Given public opinion, it shouldn't surprise anyone that the bill did not become law.
Gallup did not ask about immigrants who are already in the United States illegally. But a Wall Street Journal poll touched on that question just before the State of the Union speech, asking respondents which issues should be "an absolute priority for the Obama administration and this year's Congress." On the list was "passing immigration legislation that would create a pathway to U.S. citizenship for foreigners who are currently staying illegally in the United States." It ranked 12th out of 15 possible priorities, with just 39 percent calling it a must-do.
Another immigration-related option, passing reform "that would do more to secure our southern border with Mexico," ranked much higher, with 58 percent of respondents calling it an absolute priority.
See more here:
Public opinion left out of picture in Obama immigration drive