New National Survey Shows Americans Prefer Illegal Immigrants Head Home

73 Percent Feel Very Strongly About This View

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) today released a new report, Americans Prefer Illegal Immigrants Head Home: Results of a National Survey, based on polling conducted by Pulse Opinion Research. The poll found that of likely voters, 52 percent preferred that illegal immigrants in the United States return to their home countries versus 33 percent who preferred they be given legal status.

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"Poll wording matters. Most post-election polls on immigration policy have given the public the false choice of conditional legalization or mass deportations. This poll uses neutral wording that allows us to know the views of the American public," comments Dr. Steven Camarota, CIS Director of Research. "With border security and the enforcement of immigration laws being a key issue with legislators, the fact that 70 percent of those polled were not confident that immigration law would be enforced if there was a legalization and 69 percent believed providing legal status to illegals would encourage more illegal immigration is a good indicator of public sentiment."

The report can be found online at http://cis.org/americans-prefer-illegal-immigrants-head-home-results-of-national-survey

Among the findings of this poll:

• Of likely voters, 52 percent responded that they preferred that illegal immigrants in the United States return to their home countries, compared to just 33 percent who would like them to be given legal status.

• There is an enormous gap in intensity between the two views on immigration. Of those who want illegal immigrants to head home, 73 percent indicated that they felt "very strongly" about their view, while just 35 percent of those who want illegal immigrants to get legal status said they felt very strongly about their view.

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