Poll: 60% say U.S. isn't aggressive enough with deportations
Chairwoman for the bipartisan immigration commission Barbara Jordan said the United States can't have a credible immigration system without controlling illegal immigration. A new poll from Rasmussen finds that the vast majority of Americans agree with her statement. Asked if the U.S. government is "too aggressive or not aggressive enough in deporting those that are in the country illegally," 60% said the country isn't aggressive enough.
The poll also found that 57% of Americans believe that when it comes to visa overstayers, the federal government should "find these people and make them leave the country." Further, the poll found that 57% believe the United States should continue to deport illegal aliens despite Congress' failure to deal with the issue.
Last week, Pres. Obama was asked by an illegal alien activist if he would use his executive powers to halt all deportations. The President said no, but he's already taken steps to prevent the deportation of some illegal aliens by granting deferred action to illegal aliens who would qualify for the Dream Act.
The Obama Administration claims that it has deported a record number of illegal aliens during its tenure, but a recent report from the Center for Immigration Studies revealed that more than half of the deportations counted by the Administration were actually cases that were transferred from Border Patrol to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and counted as deportations. Past administrations have not counted these sorts of cases as deportations. Further, the study found that deportations that have resulted from interior enforcement declined by 19% from 2011 to 2012 and are on track to decline by 22% in 2013, showing that most deportations are the result of border enforcement rather than interior enforcement.
For more information, see Rasmussen Reports and the Center for Immigration Studies.