Poll: U.S. Border Control Lacking
75 Percent Say U.S. Not Doing Enough To Keep Illegal Immigrants Out
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Play CBS Video Video Filed, Fingerprinted and Freed Web Exclusive: Lee Cowan spoke to Randy Clark of the U.S. Border Patrol about illegal immigrants caught at the border who are released after promising to appear in court.
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Video Slipping Into The Country A "catch and release" policy for non-Mexican illegal immigrants is letting many aliens into the underground U.S. economy. Lee Cowan reports.
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(CBS/AP)
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Interactive Immigration And Naturalization Who's coming to America? Find out what's being done to screen for terrorists and take a citizenship quiz.
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Interactive The Nation We Live In Who are Americans and what do they do? A comprehensive look at our economic, sociological and racial breakdown.
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Special Report Ask The White House Booth Send your questions to Correspondents Jim Axelrod, Bill Plante, Mark Knoller and Peter Maer. Read their answers here.
In this CBS News Poll, three in four Americans say the U.S. is not doing enough along its borders to keep illegal immigrants from entering the country. Just 15 percent say the U.S. is doing enough. Significant majorities of all demographic groups say the U.S. is not doing enough to keep illegal immigrants from crossing the border.
GOVT. JOB KEEPING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM ENTERING U.S.?
Doing enough
Doing too much
Not doing enough
Recently, citizen volunteers known as "minutemen" have been patrolling some U.S. borders to try and keep out illegal immigrants. A majority of Americans — 65 percent — opposes this and thinks border patrol should be left to government law enforcement. 31 percent say citizens should be allowed to patrol U.S. borders.
SHOULD VOLUNTEERS BE ALLOWED TO PATROL U.S. BORDERS?
Yes
No
More women (71 percent) than men (58 percent) oppose the idea of "minutemen" patrolling U.S. borders. Also, eight in 10 Democrats are against allowing citizens to patrol U.S. borders, while Republicans are divided: 50 percent favor the idea, while 48 percent oppose it.
The President receives low ratings in this poll for his handling of the overall issue of immigration. Only 21 percent of Americans approve of President Bush's handling of it, while 53 percent disapprove. 26 percent are not sure.
PRESIDENT BUSH'S HANDLING OF IMMIGRATION
Approve
Disapprove
Don't know
Even many members of the President's political base do not approve of the job he is doing on immigration. 44 percent of Republicans disapprove of his handling of the issue, while just 30 percent approve. Among conservatives, nearly half disapprove of Bush's handling of immigration; only a quarter approve. In addition, 47 percent of white evangelicals disapprove.
Today, 51 percent of Americans think legal immigration in the U.S. should be decreased. Three in 10 think the level of legal immigration should be kept the same, while just 11 percent say it should be increased. These views have not changed very much over the years, with the exception of a slight uptick in the percentage who wanted to decrease immigration in the months following the terror attacks of September 11th, 2001.
LEGAL IMMIGRATION TO THE U.S. SHOULD BE…
Increased
Now
7/2005
12/2001
10/1996
Kept as is
Now
7/2005
12/2001
10/1996
Decreased
Now
7/2005
12/2001
10/1996
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