A Wall Street Journal headline Thursday stated: “Americans Want the Immigration Bill Congress Won’t Pass.” Citing the Journal’s own polling, the article suggested that “voters crave a blueprint for compromise that Congress has all but abandoned.”
However, a more accurate description of the dynamic would be to say that reform efforts “repeatedly failed in recent years” because Congress stubbornly refuses to listen to the American people.
In a general sense, it’s fair to say that voters would like some kind of overarching immigration reform. My own polling shows that 64% of voters say they believe that legal immigration is good for America while also believing that illegal immigration is bad. Such voters recognize the system is broken and want it fixed.
However, there is a simple reason that “comprehensive” immigration reform efforts are doomed to failure.
Voters do not trust the federal government.
That’s true in general—it’s been more than half a century since most voters trusted the federal government to do the right thing most of the time. But it’s especially true when it comes to border security. Just 25% of voters believe the federal government today is serious about even trying to secure the border.
That skepticism is entirely justified. In a recent survey for the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, my firm recently interviewed 1,000 members of the Elite 1%. In response to an open-ended question about the most important problem facing the nation today, not a single respondent mentioned immigration or border security. Among voters, of course, it’s become one of the top two issues in the 2024 campaign.
Given that distrust, 59% of voters say there is no point to reforming our system of legal immigration until the border is secured. Voters aren’t looking for a bill that promises to secure the border as part of a grand compromise. They want to see proof that the border is secure before the distrusted policy elites enact other reforms. Trust, but verify.
It’s important to note that this does not reflect an anti-immigrant attitude. Just 14% of voters say they believe legal immigration is bad for America.
Instead, it is a recognition that America is both a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. By a 2-to-1 margin, voters unhappy with the status quo are angry at the federal government rather than the immigrants who have answered the government’s invitation.
Still, 63% consider the illegal immigration crisis to be an invasion of our country (a figure that includes 53% of suburban women). While two-thirds (65%) recognize that most crossing the border illegally are simply looking for a better life, most (53%) also believe that a significant number of national security threats and criminals are entering illegally as well.
The longer official Washington refuses to act, the more voters will demand even harsher action to stop the perceived invasion.
When President Joe Biden took office on Jan. 20, 2021, 53% of voters supported sending U.S. troops to the border. Over the past three years, that figure has grown to 69%.
If someone is pulled over for a traffic violation and found to be in the country illegally, 62% of voters want the driver arrested and deported. Fifty-seven percent want military and National Guard forces to identify, arrest, and deport illegal immigrants. Sixty-two percent favor expanding the border wall and 55% favor ending federal funding for sanctuary cities.
Sadly, the refusal of Congress to listen is nothing new. Many years ago, when the so-called Gang of Eight lawmakers tried to pass “comprehensive” immigration reform, I delivered the same message to the weekly lunch of Senate Republicans. Voters then, like voters today, didn’t believe the feds would follow through on border security.
The only path forward at the time was to secure the border first.
More than a decade has passed, and nothing has changed.
The only path forward is to look to, listen to, and follow what the American people are really saying—secure the border first. Figure out the rest later.
If Congress doesn’t put the voice of the American people first, the lawmakers will never fix America’s broken immigration system.
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