Look Who Wants Less Immigration: Liberals, Obama Supporters, and Hispanics!

By Joe Guzzardi
August 17, 2015
 
For the third time in less than six weeks, an illegal immigrant murdered an innocent American. Kate Steinle was the first victim, shot in sanctuary city San Francisco. Second, an illegal alien and his accomplice raped and beat to death Air Force veteran and Santa Maria, CA. resident Marilyn Pharis. Then last week, in what headlines described as “an unimaginable murder,” a 19-year-old illegal immigrant with a long criminal record in his native Belize, slaughtered three people including a pregnant teenager. The suspects in the first two crimes had been arrested a total of 13 times.
 
The brutal killings have outraged Americans except for many of those who work on Capitol Hill. While the nation demands that immigration laws be enforced, interior enforcement resumed, and the border be secured, Congress is waffling over legislation to defund sanctuary cities that receive Justice Department grants. President Obama promises to veto any such legislation if it reaches his desk, arguing against all evidence that bills which deny funds to sanctuary cities undermine current administration efforts to remove the most dangerous convicted criminals and to work collaboratively with state and local law enforcement agencies.
 
The extent to which Americans want immigration laws enforced and the broad-based coalition that supports enforcement may surprise many. Last year Paragon Insights (PI), a research firm, surveyed Americans about immigration and asked straightforward questions most other pollsters phrase deceptively.
 
Among PI’s questions asked of likely voters: Would you support a candidate who said that immigration policy needs to serve the interests of the nation as a whole, not a few billionaire CEOs and immigration activists lobbying for open borders? The results: participants approved by a 71-16 margin; women supported the concept 73-14, marginally higher than men. Obama’s opponents supported it 82-12, but even the president’s enthusiasts agreed by a 61-21 margin. Liberals favored it 59-21. Most surprising, self-identified Hispanics are on board by a whopping 66-21.
 
Another question resulted in the same overwhelmingly favorable margins: “Do you agree that the first goal of immigration policy needs to be getting unemployed Americans back to work – not importing more low-wage workers to replace them?”
 
The poll proves that as legal immigration has reached record levels, more than five million work authorized, and permanent residents in the last five years, Americans are increasingly concerned about job displacement and preserving sovereignty. According to government data, since 2000 the net gain in the number of working-age (16 to 65) people holding a job has gone to legal and illegal immigrants. At the same time, the total of U.S.-born not employed increased by 17 million.
 
Further confirming PI’s findings are ballot box results where immigration is rarely an issue. In 2012, Montana passed, with 80 percent of the vote, an anti-illegal immigration referendum that would require proof of legal status before public services could be granted. Last year in deep blue Oregon, voters crushed by a 2-1 landslide a proposal to allow illegal aliens to drive.
Too much immigration, on congressional autopilot to add a million more immigrants indefinitely, hurts Americans. Minorities and the unskilled are more adversely affected than others. The U.S. doesn’t need to apologize to anyone for cutting back immigration. For decades, America has been the world’s most immigrant-welcoming nation.
 
But with criminal aliens on the loose, the border disappearing, and good jobs becoming harder to find, America needs to adopt common sense immigration policies that prioritizes citizens.