Poll: Support for Pathway to Citizenship among Blacks Plummets

Poll: Support for Pathway to Citizenship among Blacks Plummets

Black Americans’ support for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants has plummeted in the last year as the flood of illegal immigrant juveniles coming across the U.S-Mexico border has highlighted the negative impact illegal immigration has on American workers, especially black Americans.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that while 75% of blacks supported a pathway to citizenship in the spring, only 59% do now. Among all Americans, 53% support it now compared to 64% in April. The poll, which also found a swing of more than 20 percentage points in opposition to a pathway to citizenship, also found that “backing for a pathway to citizenship has also fallen by double digits among seniors (down 11 percent), women (down 14), young people (down 10) and whites (10 points).”

The unemployment rate for blacks is 11.4%, and U.S. Civil Rights Commissioner Peter Kirsanow has asked the Congressional Black Caucus not to support President Barack Obama’s amnesty because of the detrimental impact it would have on black workers. Kirsanow noted that illegal immigrants and blacks “often find themselves in competition for the same jobs.” 

“The obvious question is whether there are sufficient jobs in the low-skilled labor market for both African-Americans and illegal immigrants,” Kirsanow wrote in a recent letter to the Congressional Black Caucus. “The answer is no.”

Since Breitbart Texas broke the story of illegal immigrant juveniles being warehoused in Texas in June, illegal immigration has become one of the most important issues Americans are concerned with in every national poll, as the mainstream media were forced to cover the problem.

The opposition may have been even more intense had the poll simply asked respondents, “Do you favor giving citizenship to illegal immigrants?” Instead, as Breitbart News noted, the poll, “which was conducted by two outlets that have been relentless in pushing a pathway to citizenship,” asked respondents a wordier question: 

As you may know, there is a proposal to create a pathway to citizenship that would allow foreigners who have jobs but are staying illegally in the United States the opportunity to eventually become legal American citizens. Do you … strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose this proposal?

The poll was conducted Sept. 3-7 and has a margin of error of /- 3.1 percentage points.

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