Latino voters disapprove of potential House GOP plans to address immigration issues without creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, according to a Latino Decisions poll released Wednesday.
The survey, from Latino Decisions and the advocacy group America's Voice, found stronger support for the immigration reform principles put forward by the bipartisan "gang of eight" in the Senate and Democrats in the House: a path to citizenship along with enhanced border security, employment verification and requirements that undocumented immigrants study English, pass a background check and pay a fine before becoming legal residents. Seventy-seven percent of Latino voters supported such a plan.
About two-thirds of Latino voters also said they approve of the Democratic Party's insistence that reform include a path to citizenship.
There was less backing for legislation that left out legalization of undocumented immigrants. Asked whether they agreed with House Republicans who plan to address border security, high-tech workers and employment verification but not undocumented immigrants, 64 percent said they disapproved of the work being done on immigration by the GOP conference.
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As of now, a piecemeal approach looks like the most probable plan in the House, where most Republicans strongly oppose the Senate-passed comprehensive immigration bill. But there have been no proposals that address legalization of undocumented immigrants, other than a yet-to-be-drafted bill from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) to offer a path to citizenship to some Dreamers who entered the United States as children.
The survey interviewed 800 Latino voters in 24 House districts, 400 of whom voted in the 2010 midterm elections and 400 of whom voted in the 2012 elections but not the midterms.