Trump has passed the three-week mark of blistering media coverage following the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. Media outrage reached a fever pitch as stories regarding the administration’s zero-tolerance policy at the border became public.
Trump has since stopped the separation policy of families at the border yet the outrage continues.
New polling, however, indicates that in spite of media outcry, the vast majority of the American public agrees with Trump. A Harvard-Harris poll indicates that an overwhelming majority of Americans think that illegal aliens should be returned to their country of origin, want stricter immigration laws and favor a physical border wall.
According to the Washington Examiner:
The end result was that a substantial majority said illegal border crossers, and the children they brought, should be returned to their home countries. To that end, 80 percent (84 percent of Republicans, 79 percent of Democrats, and 78 percent of independents) favored hiring more immigration judges “to process people in custody faster.”
Penn’s polling found other results broadly favorable to the Trump approach to immigration.
For example, Penn asked, “Do you think we need stricter or looser enforcement of our immigration laws?” Seventy percent (92 percent of Republicans, 51 percent of Democrats, and 69 percent of independents) said stricter, while 30 percent said looser.
Penn asked whether respondents “support or oppose building a combination of physical and electronic barriers across the U.S.-Mexico border.” Sixty percent (92 percent of Republicans, 39 percent of Democrats, and 54 percent of independents) supported the barriers, while 40 percent did not.
Sixty-one percent (73 percent of Republicans, 49 percent of Democrats, and 60 percent of independents) said current border security is inadequate.
Penn’s polling also found overwhelming opposition to sanctuary cities.
But Democrats’ response on the hot-button issue of immigrants being allowed to remain in the United States if they make it to the border was stunning. The pollster asked, “Do you think that people who make it across our border illegally should be allowed to stay in the country or sent home?”
