POLL: 55% of Americans Support Lower Immigration Levels; Gang of 8 Plan Would Double Legal Immigration
A new poll conducted by Fox News has found that a majority of Americans support reducing legal immigration. The United States currently grants more than 1 million green cards each year; the Gang of Eight's "comprehensive immigration reform" bill would likely double legal numbers, and in the first ten years after enactment, it would triple current legal immigration levels.
The Fox News poll found that 55% of registered voters support lower immigration levels up from 43% just a year ago. Only 28% registered voters support increasing current legal immigration numbers. Ten percent said they supported current immigration levels.
The poll also found that 68% of registered voters favor securing the border before making any other changes to current immigration policy. Only 22% oppose securing the border first.
The Gang of Eight's plan would increase current immigration levels by eliminating certain caps within the family-preference visa categories and creating two, new merit-based green card categories. The first merit-based category would grant up to 250,000 new green cards per year, while the second merit-based category was created to clear the backlog of 4 million individuals currently waiting for green cards and the most of the 11-18 million illegal aliens currently living in the U.S.
For more information, see FoxNews.com.