Majority Of Americans Support Building Border Wall, Increasing Deportations, Penalizing Businesses That Hire Illegal Immigrants

 A majority of Americans are in favor of several different policies aimed at stopping illegal immigration, including building a wall on the southern border, deporting more illegal immigrants, and penalizing the businesses that hire them, a recent poll found.

The public opinion survey, conducted by Chicago Council on Global Affairs and Ipsos in early April, found a significant partisan divide over immigration policy, though a majority believe that a number of measures should be taken to curtail illegal immigration.

A slim majority of respondents, 54 percent, said that they favor continuing construction of the border wall. The question had the most pronounced partisan split, with 87 percent of Republicans and just 28 percent of Democrats supporting the policy.

A full 65 percent of all respondents said that we should increase the number of deportations, with 89 percent of Republicans, 66 percent of independents, and 46 percent of Democrats in agreement. Another 66 percent of all respondents said that we should raise penalties against businesses that hire illegal workers. Republicans were widely favorable of the move at 85 percent, with Democrats at 48 percent, and Independents at 67 percent.

The poll results come as America is facing a crisis on the southern border of unprecedented magnitude. Nearly 130,000 illegal immigrant apprehensions were recorded on the southern border last month alone. Officials have recorded over 9.5 million nationwide encounters and 1.7 million estimated illegal immigrant gotaways under the Democratic incumbent in total, a striking increase from the 445,000 total reported gotaways for 2018, 2019, and 2020 under Trump. 

This public opinion survey is just the latest in a growing series of polls that could spell trouble for President Joe Biden as we get closer to the 2024 presidential election as immigration has been propelled to the forefront of the national conversation. One recent poll found that just 36 percent of voters approve of Biden’s performance on immigration, making it his lowest issue-specific approval rating for four consecutive months.

Even voters in Colorado and Massachusetts, two firmly Democratic states, found that voters believe immigration is the biggest issue facing their states. Another survey from ABC/Ipsos found that Americans trust former President Donald Trump to handle immigration more than they trust Biden by a full 17 point margin.