Curt Flewelling, FISM News
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Just two weeks after Title 42 border restrictions were lifted, a new poll reflects that 60% of Americans feel that they should’ve remained in place.
Fox News polled 1,000 registered voters from May 19-22, asking them a wide array of questions on border security. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 points. The project was a bi-partisan effort as it was conducted by Democrat Chris Anderson and Republican Daron Shaw.
The survey found that 51% of registered voters felt that security at the U.S. southern border has gotten worse in the last two years, while 11% thought it had gotten better.
These numbers are far different from responses given to Fox News in June of 2018, when just 17% felt that the border situation was getting worse. A staggering 82% of Republicans said that border security is worse now compared to just 6% who felt it was a problem in 2018.
Trump-era policies on immigration could be cited to explain the numbers among Republicans however independents and Hispanic voters are concerned as well. Of independents, 52% say the problem is worse now, while only 15% of that group felt that way in 2018. The numbers, as they pertain to Hispanic voters, have shifted wildly as 49% of that demographic now have negative views on border security compared to just 19% five years ago.
All of these numbers are not good news for the Biden administration. When respondents were asked specifically to voice an opinion on President Biden’s job on border security, the poll reflected the lowest numbers during his presidency with just 33% of pollees approving of the President’s job and a whopping 63% disapproving.
While Republicans clearly lay most of the blame on the Biden administration for the rise in illegal immigration, Democrats state a much more obvious reason for the influx of migrants to the U.S. A healthy 83% (mostly Democrats) of respondents cite the fact that the United States is viewed as the best country to live in as the overriding motivator for the increase in migration.
Democrat Chris Anderson sums it up this way,
Americans broadly recognize we are a victim of our own success when it comes to migration. It’s understood that migrants are driven from their home countries by desperate conditions, and they see the United States as a beacon of hope and opportunity.
TITLE 42
Title 42 legislation has historically given the U.S. government the right to expel individuals who had recently been in a country where a communicable disease was present.
Section 265 of the law gives the government the right to deny access to migrants who may present a public health risk. This provision was utilized effectively by the Trump administration during the COVID-19 pandemic to limit immigration from Mexico and Central America.