A new poll shows that a majority of Americans do not agree with extremists in Congress seeking to link Department of Homeland Security funding to the repeal of the President's executive action on immigration.
The poll was consistent with Tuesday's passage of a nine month funding bill for DHS through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. The bill was passed absent of any attempts to repeal President Obama's executive action on immigration. The DHS funding bill now heads to President Obama's desk for his signature.
"As expected, the politically charged attempts by a majority of Republicans in Congress to repeal the President's action on immigration through the Department of Homeland Security was just smoke and mirrors," says Cristobal Alex, president of the Latino Victory Project, in a statement. "The move was an unnecessary burden on the millions of hardworking families who stand to benefit from these needed immigration reforms."
Conservative Latinos offer a different take on Obama's executive action.
"The president has complicated everything," says Daniel Garza, Executive Director of the LIBRE Initiative. "We appreciate the intent of the executive action but its hard to swallow the precedent that Obama is setting. Twenty-five states have sued. While the executive action benefits undocumented immigrants, it's not aligned with the constitution. In the long run it's going to create confusion and be detrimental to the political legal processes of the U.S. Obama himself said on numerous occasions over several years that he cannot constitutionally act alone but he did it anyway."
The poll, which will be published Monday under the title Beyond the Beltway Insights, asked interviewees the following question:
President Obama recently announced an executive order that protects roughly five million undocumented immigrants who are parents of U.S. citizens or permanent residents who have lived here for more than 5 years. On February 16, a Texas federal court put the order on hold because of a procedural issue. Which of the following views is closer to your point of view about what Congress should do next on immigration?
Fifty-nine percent of respondents agreed with Democrats who say the DHS funding dispute would be better-settled if Congress passed bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that strengthens border security and provides a pathway to legal status for immigrants.
Forty-one percent of respondents agreed with Republicans in Congress who say Congress should use the tools at its disposal to force the President to change or reverse the order, even if it means temporarily shutting down the Department of Homeland Security.
The poll was conducted on 26 and 27 February by SKDKnickerbocker and the Benenson Strategy Group, surveyed a sample of 1032 registered voters. The interviews were conducted online with an overall margin of error of ±3.05%.