Poll:
Immigrants prize deportation relief over citizenship
Creating a pathway to
citizenship for undocumented immigrants has long been seen as the keystone of
comprehensive immigration reform efforts, but according to two new surveys from
the Pew Research Center , Hispanic and Asian-Americans are more concerned
about addressing the threat of deportation.
By a margin of 55 to 35
percent, Hispanics said that allowing immigrants to live and work in the United
States without the specter of deportation hanging over their heads is more
important than creating a pathway to citizenship for those immigrants. By a
smaller margin – 49 to 44 percent – Asian-Americans agreed.
Robust majorities of both
groups – 89 percent of Hispanics and 72 percent of Asian-Americans – still
expressed support for a pathway to citizenship, so that provision hasn’t
slipped too far down the wish-list. Still, the numbers could color the
immigration reform debate that has roiled Congress for months and will continue
into 2014.
Democrats and a handful of
Republicans have earned plaudits from Hispanics and Asian-Americans due to
their support for a pathway to citizenship, but the record pace of deportations
over the last 5 years has diminished that ardor to a degree. Since 2009,
President Obama’s administration has deported roughly 400,000 immigrants
annually.
In November, during a
speech about immigration, the president was interrupted by a shouting student
named Ju Hong who demanded he use his executive authority to end all
deportations that could separate families. The president said he respected
Hong’s passion but added that only Congress can ultimately resolve the question
of how to handle undocumented immigrants.
“What I’m proposing is the
harder path which is to use our democratic processes to achieve the same goal
that you want to achieve, but it won’t be as easy as just shouting,” he said.
The Senate passed a
bipartisan immigration reform bill in June that would extend a 13-year pathway
to citizenship to the roughly 12 million undocumented immigrants who live in
the U.S. The House has declined to take up the Senate’s
bill, but legislative action in that chamber has stalled as the two parties
have pulled the debate in different directions.
Democrats have pressed
Republican leaders to schedule a vote on a similar comprehensive proposal so
that the two chambers can confer on a final bill, but Republican leaders, wary
of an insurrection among their rank-and-file, have said they would prefer to
legislate reform in increments.
Among the GOP’s biggest
problems with the Senate bill is its inclusion of a pathway to citizenship for
undocumented immigrants, a proposal criticized by some as amnesty for
lawbreakers. To address that objection, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., who chairs
the House Judiciary Committee, has offered a substitute proposal that would
confer legal permanent residency – but not citizenship – on those who came to
the U.S. illegally.
According to Pew, a
plurality of both groups – 43 percent of Hispanics and 48 percent of Asian-Americans
– would heap most of the blame on Republicans in Congress if immigration reform
continues to falter. 34 percent of Hispanics and 29 percent of Asian-Americans
would mostly blame Democrats and the president.
Pew’s poll of Hispanics
surveyed 701 adults between Oct. 16 and Nov. 3, and it has a margin of error of
plus or minus 4.4 percent. The poll of Asian-Americans surveyed 802 adults
between Oct. 16 and 31, and it has a margin of error of plus or minus 5
percent.
As Reported by Jake Miller,
CBS News
Ben Ferro
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