As the surge of migrants continues at the U.S.-Mexico border, a new survey shows a majority of Americans support the Biden administration hiring more Border Patrol agents and immigration agents.
Associated Press-NORC Center SurveyA report released Friday found that a majority of Americans agree with policy ideas on immigration and southern border security, as legislation on the issue is currently stalled in a divided Congress.
About 58% of respondents said they strongly or somewhat supported the U.S. hiring more immigration judges and court staff to speed up processing of asylum seekers. The survey also found that 64% strongly or somewhat favor hiring more Border Patrol agents.
According to the poll, 79% of Republicans support hiring more Border Patrol agents, compared to 54% of Democrats and 56% of independents.
According to the survey, about half of respondents agreed that the country should reduce the number of immigrants who can claim asylum in the United States upon arrival at the southern border.
Just over half of adults (58%) say immigration is an important issue to them, according to the poll, but it is still seen as less important than the economy, health care, crime and gun policy.
Overall, 31% of respondents in the latest poll approve of President Biden’s handling of immigration, an improvement from last year. Only 30% of respondents approve of Biden’s handling of border security, and support has declined over the past year.
Of all the solutions proposed to prevent illegal immigration, the most divisive solution is a border wall. The report found that only 42% of respondents said they supported building a wall, with Republicans likely to support that option.
The Biden administration scored the latest victory when a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday to extend a stay on a Texas immigration law that gives local police the power to arrest people suspected of entering the country illegally.
In his State of the Union address earlier this month, Biden called on Congress to send a border bill after months of failed negotiations.
The AP-NORC survey was conducted March 21-25 among 1,282 adults and had a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.
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