Immigration Reform Back on Political Agenda, Poll Shows Strong Continuing Support Among Latinos
After nearly 50,000 unaccompanied children crossed the United States border, immigration reform is back on the political agenda. President Barack Obama told his Cabinet secretaries today to "be creative" on issues stalled by Congress such as immigration reform and infrastructure.
Secretary of State John Kerry is asking for help from Central American nations to reduce the number of children arriving in the United States illegally and met in Panama with the presidents of El Salvador and Guatemala, and the Foreign Minister of Honduras, according to The Guardian.
The Center for American Progress Action Fund and America's Voice released a national poll, conducted by Latino Decisions, testing Latino voter enthusiasm for executive action on immigration policy. The polling results show extremely high support among Latino voters for a variety administrative policies.
In the national poll, 800 registered Latino voters answered a series of questions in Spanish and English over a two week period in May 2014.
Gary Segura, Principal and Co-Founder, Latino Decisions, said voters were asked about Deferred Action, prosecutorial discretion and deportation.
Segura said, "When voters were asked about the ending of deportation for parents of U.S.-born citizens, 69 percent of voters said they would be favorable to Democrats if parents were excused from deportation, with 30 percent less favorable. When asked about the ending of deportation of parents and including work permits, 87 percent of Latino registered voters said that would make them favorable to the Democratic party."
When the Pew Research Center surveyed the Latino community, however, there are several issues that consistently rank higher on the list than immigration. In 2013, some 57 percent of Latino registered voters called education an "extremely important" issue facing the nation today. That's compared with jobs and the economy (52 percent) and health care (43 percent). Just 32 percent said immigration.
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!