Pew Poll: Exemption from Deportation Is More Important to Illegals Than Citizenship
Recent research shows what has been obvious for a long time — many illegal aliens don’t want to join the American community but care only about being able to work here and make money without being repatriated. Unobstructed job thievery is Job #1!
Even among legal immigrants, a sizable number do not want to become American citizens. They do want maximum benefits for minimum commitment, and green card status provides the goodies.
You can read the entire very detailed report online: On Immigration Policy, Deportation Relief Seen As More Important Than Citizenship
Here’s the introduction to the paper:
On Immigration Policy, Deportation Relief Seen As More Important Than Citizenship, Pew Reports, December 19, 2013
While lopsided majorities of Hispanics and Asian Americans support creating a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants, two new surveys from the Pew Research Center also show that these groups believe it is more important for unauthorized immigrants to get relief from the threat of deportation.
By 55% to 35%, Hispanics say that they think being able to live and work in the United States legally without the threat of deportation is more important for unauthorized immigrants than a pathway to citizenship. Asian Americans hold a similar view, albeit by a smaller margin—49% to 44%.
Together Hispanics and Asian Americans account for two-thirds of the 28 million immigrants who are in the U.S. legally,1 and Hispanics alone account for about three-quarters of the additional 11.7 million immigrants who, according to Pew Research Center estimates, are in the country illegally.
The U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill during the summer, but the measure remains stalled in the Republican-led House of Representatives, where the provision that provides a 13-year pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants has emerged as the major sticking point.
Pro-immigration reform leaders staunchly support that provision, as do large majorities of Hispanics (89%) and Asian Americans (72%), according to the new Pew Research surveys. However, the findings from the same surveys of both groups show that, when dealing with the issue of unauthorized immigration, deportation relief is more important than a pathway to citizenship; this could conceivably create an opening for legislative compromise.
If the immigration bill dies, a plurality of Hispanics (43%) and Asian Americans (48%) say they would mostly blame Republicans in Congress. But sizable minorities of each group—34% of Hispanics and 29% of Asian Americans—say they would hold Democrats in Congress and/or President Obama mainly responsible.
Some 51% of the 35 million Hispanic adults in the U.S. are immigrants, as are 74% of the 12 million Asian-American adults (Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project, 2013). Both groups are growing rapidly, and both flexed their political muscles in 2012 by turning out in record numbers and giving more than 70% of their votes to Obama (Lopez and Gonzalez-Barrera, 2013).2
Immigrants in the U.S. fall broadly into one of three categories. They are either in the country illegally; are legal permanent residents; or are naturalized U.S. citizens. Those who are legal permanent residents are able to live and work in the U.S. legally (without fear of deportation) and to travel abroad, but are not afforded all the rights of U.S. citizenship. Naturalized U.S. citizens have all the benefits of legal permanent residency along with being able to vote in U.S. elections (in addition to other benefits).
Not all legal immigrants necessarily choose to become U.S. citizens. In a report published earlier this year (Gonzalez-Barrera, Lopez, Passel and Taylor, 2013), the Pew Research Center found that among all Hispanic immigrants who are in the U.S. legally, just 44% have become citizens; the remainder are legal permanent residents. Among legal immigrants from Mexico, which is by far the largest country of origin for Hispanic immigrants, just 36% have gone through the naturalization process and become U.S. citizens. [. . .]