Americans increasingly believe that the United States is too lenient when it comes to deporting undocumented immigrants. This finding comes as President Obama continues to fight for his executive action on immigration, which would protect almost five million immigrants from such a fate, a new poll claims.
A new national telephone survey by Rasmussen Reports saw just 16% of the respondents believing that the government is currently too aggressive when it comes to deporting undocumented immigrants; meanwhile, a staggering 62% feel that the government is not aggressive enough ‒ a rise from 56% in November and 52% from this time last year. Just 15% of the respondents said they are happy with the current rate of deportations.
One element of the president’s executive action is to exempt undocumented immigrants with children born in the United States from the threat of deportation; however, just 32% of the respondents agree with this policy in contrast to the 51% who disagree. This is a notable change from the last poll in November, when opinion was more closely divided. Most voters felt then, and still feel now, that a child born in the US to undocumented immigrants should not automatically receive US citizenship.
83% of the respondents believe that no one should receive federal, local or state services unless they can prove that they have the legal right to be in the country, while 54% worry that actual citizens could have their civil rights violated by efforts to find and deport undocumented immigrants. Most people agree that current government policies encourage illegal immigration.