Americans by a narrow margin say the U.S. government’s main focus in dealing with illegal immigration should be developing legal status for illegal immigrants in the country, rather than border security.
Fifty percent of Americans say the main focus of the U.S. government in dealing with illegal immigration should be developing a plan that would allow illegal immigrants who have jobs to become U.S. residents, and 46 percent say the focus should be on developing a plan for stopping the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. and for deporting those already here, a CNN/ORC poll said.
The issue is once again front and center as the new GOP Congress tries to confront President Obama on his recently announced executive actions on immigration.
The GOP-led House voted this week to cancel President Obama’s recent executive actions granting more than 4 million illegal immigrants in the country temporary amnesty from deportation, as well as a previous policy granting amnesty for more than 600,000 illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, known as Dreamers.
The White House has threatened to veto the Homeland Security funding bill, which funds the department for the rest of the fiscal year, if it included such provisions.
On another issue congressional Republicans have taken up early on, 57 percent of Americans favor building the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline. Twenty-eight percent are opposed and 15 percent have no opinion, according to the poll.
The House recently advanced another measure authorizing its construction and the Senate is poised to follow suit, though it appears proponents are short of the two-thirds majority needed in Congress to override a separate pledged veto from Mr. Obama.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.