61% Oppose U.S. Citizenship for Children Born to Illegal Immigrants

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61% Oppose U.S. Citizenship for Children Born to Illegal Immigrants

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Rasmussen Reports

Several Republican senators are seeking to amend the law that grants full U.S. citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants in this country, and voters strongly support such an effort.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 61% of Likely U.S. Voters believe that a child born in the United States to a woman who is here illegally should not automatically become a U.S. citizen. That’s up slightly from last August but is the highest level of support for a change in the existing law found in five years of Rasmussen Reports surveying.

Twenty-eight percent (28%) disagree and feel that children born to illegal immigrants in this country should automatically become American citizens as is currently the practice. That’s down six points from August. Another 11% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Eighty-four percent (84%) of voters believe that before anyone receives local, state or federal government services, they should be required to prove they are legally allowed to be in the United States. Only nine percent (9%) oppose such a requirement.

Most voters continue to feel that the policies of the federal government encourage illegal immigration, but voters are now almost evenly divided over whether it's better to let the federal government or individual states enforce immigration laws. At least one state, Arizona, has been considering a law that would deny full citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on April 17-18, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

While most voters favor stronger enforcement of immigration laws, just over half (55%) of voters nationwide also are at least somewhat concerned that efforts to identify and deport illegal immigrants will end up violating the civil rights of some U.S. citizens. Forty-two percent (42%) don’t share that concern. This includes 21% who are Very Concerned and 12% who are Not At All Concerned.

This is consistent with findings for nearly a year.

Seventy-seven percent (77%) of Republicans and 63% of voters not affiliated with either major political party oppose automatic U.S. citizenship for children born in this country to illegal immigrants. Democrats are evenly divided on the question.

Also, 75% of Democrats are concerned that efforts to identify and deport illegal aliens will violate the civil rights of some U.S. citizens, a view shared by just 39% of Republicans. Unaffiliated voters are narrowly divided on the question.

There are sharper differences of opinion as far as the Political Class is concerned. Seventy percent (70%) of those in the Political Class favor automatic citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, but 70% of Mainstream voters are opposed.

Mainstream voters also believe much more emphatically that those seeking government services need to prove they are in this country legally. They also are far less concerned than Political Class voters about violating the civil rights of some U.S. citizens.

Voters are evenly divided over whether young people brought to this country illegally by their parents should be viewed as breaking the law. But most voters think a young person brought to the United States illegally by their parents who serves honorably in the military or who grows up here, obeys the law and does well in school should be given the right to remain here legally.

Americans believe there is more poverty in the country today than there was 10 years ago, but 61% of Adults say if immigration laws were enforced, there would be less poverty here.

Most voters continue to favor strong sanctions on employers who hire illegal immigrants and landlords who rent to them. Voters also feel strongly that police should check the immigration status of drivers during routine traffic stops.

Fifty percent (50%) of adults say it’s too easy to qualify for welfare in the United States.

When it comes to illegal immigration, most voters believe the government just needs to enforce the laws that are already on the books rather than create new laws.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/immigration/61_oppose_u_s_citizenship_for_children_born_to_illegal_immigrants