The State of Play in Immigration

Washington elites are clueless:

By a margin of 63-36, Americans believe that illegal immigration is a major problem (vs. a minor problem or not a problem at all). Latinos also agree, but by a much closer split of 50 to 47.

By a 74-22 margin, Americans agree with the following statement: "We have to stop the flow of illegals before we address what to do about those who already are here." Latinos agree, 63 to 32.

Somewhat surprisingly (to me at least), when given six choices as to what is "the best way to stop illegal immigration" (including getting tougher on employers who hire illegals and increasing federal funding for more border agents and new technology), the choice that finished dead last among the six, with only 7 percent, was "building a wall or fence along the US-Mexican border to prevent all off-road illegal immigration into the US." When asked directly, though, whether they would support a border fence, 50 percent said yes and 41 percent said no. This was one of the only issues on which there was a marked difference between Latinos and the broader public: Latinos dislike the fence idea by a 35-61 margin.

On the other hand, Latinos by a percentage of 56-35 support the hiring of 6,000 new border patrol agents, bringing the total to more than 18,000. The broader public, according to the poll, supports more agents, 70-20.

Now, here is where the poll gets really interesting: 88 percent of all respondents, including 88 percent of Latinos, favor English immersion classes for students from other linguistic backgrounds. This puts the lie to the idea that Latinos would prefer to be taught in those trendy "bilingual" classes that try to ease such students into English by teaching in their original language first. And 80 percent of Americans, including 62 percent of Latinos, favor making English the official language of the United States.

Support is also strong across the board for requiring valid photo identification in order to vote, and for "a tamper-proof identification card system to determine instantly whether a job applicant is entitled to work inside the United States," and also for prohibiting states from issuing drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants.

Finally (for our purposes), 68 percent of all those surveyed, and 56 percent of Latinos, support enactment of a "zero tolerance" policy requiring deportation of illegal immigrants.

I don't know whose votes they think they're buying with their amnesty policies, but the numbers don't seem to bear them out.