While the two political parties battle back and forth to draft a bi-partisan take on immigration reform and deadlines come and go (kudos to the Senate for coming to a bi-partisan agreement two weeks ago), the American public actually has quite a bit to say …. According to the latest VeraQuest research poll, the position of America at the moment appears to be that all solutions are not created equal and in fact, some are significantly more palatable and more valuable than others. From top to bottom, Americans endorse:
In general, there is quite a bit of consensus on strengthening our efforts with border protection (good news for the latest iteration of the bill).
After that, there appears to be a very clear line drawn between legal and illegal immigrants. While a slight majority of Americans express support for expanding the rights of legal immigrants, foreign students and entrepreneurs including improving work provisions, offering care for families, and providing voting rights, only 1 in 3 favor casting the net wider and expanding the rights of illegal immigrants to become citizens more easily (bad news for the approximately 11 million illegal immigrants currently in this country).
The new Senate bill appears to mostly coincide with American opinion on this matter, allowing immigrants who have entered the country illegally a path to citizenship, unless they arrived after a December 2011 cut-off date.
Have you been following the position of either party on immigration reform? Do you agree with America and/or with your party on these issues?
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