A majority of Americans want to see less immigration overall, according to a new poll ahead of an election in which immigration and the crisis on the southern border are top issues for voters.
A recent survey found that 55% of voters want to see less immigration into the United States. Gallup poll. That’s up significantly from 41% last year and marks the first time since 2005 that a majority of Americans want to see less immigration. It’s also the highest level since 2001, when 58% said so.
Sixteen percent of Americans want to see more immigration, a big change from 2020 and 2021, when 34% wanted more immigration and just 30% wanted less immigration.
Border security and illegal immigration top Republican convention agenda: ‘Mass deportations now!’
Broken down by party affiliation, 88% of Republicans, 50% of independents, and 28% of Democrats want to reduce immigration.
Migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border are processed by U.S. Border Patrol near Jacumba Hot Springs on June 13, 2024, in San Diego. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
This comes as a crisis at the southern border enters its third year, which is primarily about illegal immigration but also faces ongoing concerns from Republicans that the Biden administration is using parole to allow hundreds of thousands of people into the US who are considered legal immigrants.
Multiple polls, including from Gallup, have consistently shown the border crisis to be the top issue for voters ahead of the November election.
According to the poll, as solutions to the crisis, 67% want to establish a Border Patrol, 53% want an expansion of the border wall, 47% want to deport all illegal immigrants, and 70% want to give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship if they meet “certain conditions within a certain period of time.”
The poll was conducted in June and released last week, just before the Republican National Convention, where border security was a central issue and slogans appeared throughout the convention chanting “Mass Deportations Now!”
Agent frustrated as gap in border wall remains open after Biden halts construction: “It’s a lighthouse.”
People hold signs reading “Mass Deportations Now!” during the third day of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on July 17, 2024. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
At the party convention, former President Trump touted his achievements during his term in office, saying that his strategies to stop illegal immigration, such as building a border wall and strengthening domestic enforcement, had been successful.
“We stopped an invasion, but that invasion was nothing compared to what happened after I left. Look what happened after I left. They took over our country,” Trump said.
“We’ve repealed all capture and release policies. We’ve stopped asylum fraud. We’ve stopped human trafficking and made historic agreements to keep illegal immigrants on foreign soil. We want them to stay on our soil under the Trump Administration. Anyone who enters illegally is immediately arrested and deported. And then immediately sent home. This administration has repealed all of Trump’s great policies that I put in place to close the border.”
For more coverage on the border security crisis, click here
Biden Administration The country says it is trying to resolve what it describes as a hemispheric crisis but needs funding and immigration reform from Congress, and accuses Republicans and President Donald Trump of blocking it for political purposes.
White House Officials said this week that overall contacts have fallen by more than 50% and releases have fallen by 70% since President Biden announced an executive order in June restricting entry into the U.S. Officials also said the administration has expelled and deported more than 50,000 people from more than 100 countries.
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“While the president’s actions have achieved great results, it is clear that the only lasting solution to the challenges we face at the border — a solution that provides the additional authority, resources and personnel needed to ensure border security — will come through action by Congress,” the official said.
