American Voters Want Border and Immigration Enforcement, Not Amnesty

Immigration was a key issue on the minds of voters when they went to the polls in November. And, by wide margins, voters’ top priority when it comes to this issue is getting our borders under control and enforcing laws against illegal immigration.

According to exit polling commissioned by FAIR, 83 percent of voters said that immigration was an important factor in determining their votes. They were also pretty clear about what they would like to see happen. Given a choice of policy options they would like to see addressed in the coming year, 50 percent said getting our borders under control should be the first order of business. An additional 12 percent said that finding and removing illegal aliens who are already in the country should be prioritized. A scant 8.8 percent said that legalizing some or all illegal aliens should be the first agenda item. Nevertheless, in his first public statement after the election, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer – who will be the senior-most Democrat in the 118th Congress – declared that he will pursue a sweeping amnesty that legalizes virtually every illegal alien in the country.

Thus, Republicans, who will have control of the House of Representatives in the new Congress, have a clear mandate from voters to make good on the immigration policy blueprint they unveiled last summer (and to block any Democratic-led efforts to prioritize amnesty). With their majority in the House comes oversight power to hold the Biden administration accountable for its deliberate sabotage of border and immigration enforcement, and their abuse of executive authority to admit and release millions of illegal aliens into the country. Control of the chamber also means that Republicans will have the authority to launch investigations into the administration’s handling (or mishandling) of immigration policies, the ability to subpoena administration officials and have them testify under oath.

Additionally, funding measures originate in the House. This gives the new majority party the power to makes sure that taxpayer dollars are used to carry out our laws, rather than undermine them, as President Biden and his Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have been doing with impunity for the past two years.

Among the funding priorities that voters want the new House leadership to pursue is completion of the border security fence that President Biden canceled on his first day in office (even though much of it has already been paid for by American taxpayers). By a 2-1 margin, 64 percent to 32 percent, voters support resumption of border wall construction.

Beyond a strong preference for border and immigration enforcement over amnesty for illegal aliens, FAIR’s exit polling reveals that 55 percent of voters believe that Biden administration policies have encouraged the unprecedented wave of illegal immigration over the past two years. Only 11 percent of voters thought that Biden policies were discouraging illegal immigration.

Further, American voters recognize that our political asylum policies are being widely abused. Two-thirds said that people seeking asylum in the U.S. should be required to file their claims outside the country, rather than being allowed to enter illegally. According to a senior Border Patrol official, the wait time for an initial hearing on their asylum claim for illegal border-crossers is now 85 months – more than seven years!

FAIR’s exit polling of more than 2,000 actual voters was conducted by Zogby Analytics. The full results of FAIR’s polling can be found on our website, www.fairus.org.

FAIR’s Immigration Poll Highlights

• 83% of voters said that immigration was an important factor in determining their votes.

• 50% of voters said getting our borders under control should be the first order of business.

• 12% of voters said that finding and removing illegal aliens who are already in the country should be prioritized.

• By a 2-1 margin, 64% to 32%, voters support resumption of border wall construction.

• 55% of voters believe that Biden administration policies have encouraged the unprecedented wave of illegal immigration over the past two years.