By REBECCA SANTANA and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX (Associated Press)
A new survey shows that Americans are more concerned about legal immigrants committing crimes in the U.S. than they were a few years ago, with Republicans driving this change, while Democrats still see various benefits from immigration.
The poll is conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and indicates that many adults in the U.S. believe that immigrants contribute to the country’s economic growth and enrich American culture. However, they now perceive fewer major benefits and more major risks from legal immigrants compared to the past.
Approximately 40% of Americans think that the arrival of legal immigrants is a big advantage for American companies in terms of gaining skilled workers in fields such as science and technology. A similar percentage (38%) believe that legal immigrants significantly contribute to enriching American culture and values.
These figures have declined from 2017 when 59% of Americans saw skilled immigrant workers entering the country legally as a major benefit, and half of them saw legal immigrants as making a major contribution to American culture.
Conversely, the proportion of Americans who see a major risk in legal immigrants committing crimes in the U.S. has risen, from 19% in 2017 to 32% in the new poll.
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to consider immigration as an important personal issue, with 41% now seeing legal immigrants as a major risk for committing crimes in the U.S., up from 20% in 2017. In general, Republicans are more inclined to perceive major risks and fewer benefits from both legal and illegal immigrants entering the country, with a higher focus on concerns regarding illegal immigration.
Bob Saunders, a 64-year-old independent from Voorhees, New Jersey, disapproves of President Joe Biden’s handling of immigration and border security. He is particularly concerned about the release of immigrants coming to the southern border. Saunders emphasized the distinction between legal and illegal immigration and stressed the importance of knowing the background of immigrants entering the U.S. He also highlighted the presence of immigrants in his own family.
Saunders stated, “It’s not against immigration, it's against illegal immigration.”
A significant number of Republicans (71%) believe there is a risk of crimes being committed by people in the country illegally, despite numerous studies concluding that immigrants are less likely to engage in violent crime compared to native-born citizens. Moreover, 80% believe there is a major risk of people in the country without permission becoming a burden on public service programs, while about 60% are concerned about them taking American jobs, weakening American identity due to their population growth, or voting illegally, despite contrary evidence. only a small amount of noncitizen voters have been uncovered.
Amber Pierce, a 43-year-old Republican from Milam, Texas, says she understands that many migrants are looking for a better life for their children, but she's also worried migrants will become a burden on government services.
"I think a lot of them come here and receive free health care, taking away from the people who are citizens and have worked here," Pierce said. "They get a free ride. I don't think that's fair."
Democrats, on the other hand, are more likely to see benefits from immigration, even though the poll found that only half of Democrats now believe that legal immigrants are making significant contributions to American companies, a decrease of over 20 percentage points from 2017. But they're more likely than Republicans to say that the ability of people to come from other places in the world to escape violence or find economic opportunities is extremely or very important to the U.S's identity as a nation.
"People who are coming, are coming for good reason. It's how many of us got here," said Amy Wozniak, a Democrat from Greenwood, Indiana. Wozniak stated previous waves of immigrants came from European countries. Now immigrants are coming from different countries but that doesn't mean they're not fleeing for justifiable reasons, she said: "They're not all drugs and thugs."
There's also a division among partisans about the value of diversity, with 83% of Democrats saying that the nation's diverse population makes it at least moderately stronger, compared with 43% of Republicans and Independents. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say that a shared American culture and set of values is extremely or very important to the United States' identity as a nation, although about half of Democrats also see this as important.
U.S. adults — and especially Republicans — are more likely to say that the country has been significantly altered by immigrants in the past five years than they are to say that immigrants have changed their own community or their state. About 3 in 10 U.S. adults say immigrants have had a major impact on their local community while about 6 in 10 say they've had a major impact on the country as a whole. The distance between perceptions of community impact and effects on the country as a whole is particularly wide among Republicans.
There is some bipartisan agreement about how immigration at the border between the U.S. and Mexico should be addressed. The most popular option asked about is hiring more Border Patrol agents, which is supported by about 8 in 10 Republicans and about half of Democrats. Hiring more immigration judges and court personnel is also favored among majorities of both parties.
About half of Americans support reducing the number of immigrants who are allowed to seek asylum in the U.S. when they arrive at the border, but there's a much bigger partisan divide there, with more Republicans than Democrats favoring this strategy. Building a wall — former President Donald Trump's signature policy goal — is the least popular and most polarizing option of the four asked about. About 4 in 10 favor building a wall, including 77% of Republicans but just 12% of Democrats.
Donna Lyon, an independent leaning towards the Democratic party from Cortland, New York, thinks that a border wall would not be very effective in stopping migrants. However, she does support the idea of hiring more Border Patrol agents and more immigration court judges to address the increasing backlog of immigration court cases. She says, “That would stop all the backup that we have.” There has been a recent approval of money by Congress to hire approximately 2,000 more Border Patrol agents but there has not been a significant increase in funding for more immigration judges so far this year. Many people from both political sides have expressed concern that it takes too long to make decisions on asylum cases, leading to migrants staying in the country for years while awaiting a decision. However, the parties have not been able to reach an agreement on how to deal with this issue.: “That would stop all the backup that we have.”
Congress just recently approved money to hire about 2,000 more Border Patrol agents but so far this year, there’s been no significant boost for funding for more immigration judges. Many on both sides of the aisle have said it takes much too long to decide asylum cases, meaning migrants stay in the country for years waiting for a decision, but the parties have failed to find consensus on how to address the issue.
The poll of 1,282 adults was conducted March 21-25, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
