Most Americans support hiring more border agents amid record illegal immigration, according to a new survey from the Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Center.
United States Customs and Border Protection has encountered more than 7.5 million individuals entering the country illegally under President Joe Biden. The survey found that hiring more border patrol agents is somewhat favored or strongly favored by 79% of Republicans and 54% of Democrats, as well as 56% of independents. Some 60% of Republicans, 65% of Democrats, and 36% of independents meanwhile indicated support for hiring more immigration judges.
Vast majorities of Republicans support building a border wall and reducing the number of illegal aliens allowed to seek asylum, with 77% and 75% endorsing the moves respectively. Democrats were far more hesitant, with only 12% supporting a border wall and 35% supporting fewer asylum seekers, while independents supported the policies at 40% and 51% levels respectively.
“About half of adults want to reduce the number of immigrants who can seek asylum in the United States, but there’s a much bigger partisan divide with Republicans twice as likely to support that approach,” the survey said. “A wall is the least popular and most polarizing option.”
Greater shares of Republicans blame President Joe Biden or Democrats in Congress for border problems than Democrats who blame former President Donald Trump or Republicans in Congress. The survey showed that independents were more likely to blame Democrats than Republicans for lackluster border security and increased illegal immigration.
The survey comes as stories related to illegal immigration continually make national headlines and self-described sanctuary cities become overburdened with illegal aliens seeking services. Roughly 28% of respondents to another recent survey from Gallup identified immigration as the “most important problem facing this country today,” a significant increase from the 20% who said the same in the previous month. The issue of immigration therefore surpassed “the government” as the greatest problem impacting the country, with 20% naming the latter issue.
