More and more voters in Iowa are starting to question if the wave of feisty declarations on immigration being made now by many Republican presidential primary candidates are serious -- even if the proposals are necessary, or indeed, possible.

From Donald Trump's pledge to deport millions and build an impenetrable wall (and have Mexico foot a the bill) to Chris Christie's vow to track new immigrants like FedEx packages, if nothing else all the rhetoric has been quite entertaining.

But now the New York Times reports Iowan voters like Ben Hoopes are wondering if that's all it is. Hoopes, a 33-year-old salesman and registered republican, is on board with the idea that something needs to happen. He's just not sure what's now being promised is practical, or even possible.

The Times reports in more than two dozen recent interviews among locals, Republican voters said they agreed with candidates that illegal immigration might be costing too much in taxpayer money for schools, health care and welfare. But the flip-side is they also admitted that Latino immigrants can boost the economy by taking grueling jobs that many Americans do not want, such as detasseling corn and processing meat in factories throughout Iowa.

"I'm as prejudiced as the day is long," said Chuck Coghill, who runs a sign company in the rural town of Blue Grass with his wife, Michelle. "It's a bad thing that all these illegal Mexicans are here." He paused. "But they're hard workers. They're doing jobs that lazy Americans won't do."

Beyond the bombastic Trump, other Republican candidates have offered tough proposals for deterring illegal immigration, such as Jeb Bush's vow to crack down on so-called "sanctuary cities" and deport immigrants who have overstayed the date stamped on the visas. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has gone as far as calling for the end to automatic citizenship for children of immigrants who are in the country illegally.

By contrast, leading Democratic candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bernie Sanders both favor a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.