According to a new poll from USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times, just 19% of Californians think that illegal immigrants should be deported, with 10% saying that they should be allowed to stay in the country but not granted citizenship. An overwhelming majority of Californians said that those in the country illegally should be given a pathway to citizenship. The Los Angeles Times, which characterized this latter view as “President Obama’s plan,” found that 73% of Californians approved the pathway to citizenship idea, originated in the Senate by Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and a bipartisan Gang of Eight.
Californians said that illegal immigration was a net positive for the economy by a margin of 53% to 36%. That may be due to the fact that so many Californians work with illegal immigrants, and the tax dollars that go to fund services covering illegal immigrants are far more disconnected from the taxpayers.
There is virtually no racial gap with regard to beliefs about illegal immigration; 81% of whites approved the Rubio proposal, and so did 86% of Hispanics. A strong majority of both whites and Latinos also backed border security measures.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the book “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).
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