Pew has a new poll out on Arizona's new immigration law, and it finds broad support for the law across the U.S.:
Fully 73% say they approve of requiring people to produce documents verifying their legal status if police ask for them. Two-thirds (67%) approve of allowing police to detain anyone who cannot verify their legal status, while 62% approve of allowing police to question people they think may be in the country illegally.
http://people-press.org/...
The results for registered Democrats might be somewhat surprising, given that it's taken as an assumption here at Daily Kos that the law is racist:
The . . . survey . . . finds that Democrats are evenly split over Arizona’s new immigration law: 45% approve of the law and 46% disapprove. However, majorities of Democrats approve of two of the law’s principal provisions: requiring people to produce documents verifying legal status (65%) and allowing police to detain anyone unable to verify their legal status (55%).
http://people-press.org/...
And President Obama's rhetoric on the issue has apparently not won him many converts:
. . . the public is highly critical of Barack Obama’s handling of immigration policy. Just 25% approve of the way Obama is handling the issue, while more than twice as many (54%) disapprove. That is little changed from last month (29% approve) and down slightly from last November (31%).
http://people-press.org/...
Some of the likely readers of this diary already know my opinions, but I'll restate them: illegal immigration erodes the very foundation of our collective sense of responsibility for each other. The health care debate should've demonstrated for anyone who cares to look that a strong social safety net and open borders are incompatible with each other. In addition, illegal immigration introduces a group of people into our society who erode all of our rights and quality of life, because they are without rights, and without the ability to demand fair wages, working conditions, equal treatment, etc. Finally, it's unfair to legal immigrants, millions of whom have and continue to come into the country by following all of the rules.
I do, however, support increased and more efficient legal immigration. There ought to be more green cards available for those who need and want them, and there should be more guest worker programs for those who just want to work here temporarily and then go home. Unlimited? No, but more? Yes.
But I'm increasingly also of the opinion that the policy questions over illegal immigration are taking a back seat to a kind of political death match between Democrats and Republicans over the issue. On the one hand, in the short-run, Democrats are put into the difficult position of protecting and advocating for people who have broken the law (no, it's not a crime, but not all illegal acts are crimes) -- something that does not make most Americans very happy (apparently, close to 75% at this point).
On the other hand, although Pew didn't break this down by race, other recent polls have found that the vast majority of Hispanics (70% in this case) oppose this and other tough immigration laws. Hispanics are America's fastest growing ethnic group, and alienating them could spell long term doom for the Republican Party.
The amnesty issue then is what really turns this into a battle to the death, if you'll excuse the slight hyperbole. If tens of millions of illegal immigrants become citizens with the help of Democrats and over the pitched resistance of Republicans, it's quite likely that the vast majority of them will be punching their tickets for the Democratic Party for years and even generations to come. Latinos will join blacks and Jews as demographic segments with which they have no chance, and given demographic trends . . .
There is then, not much room for compromise. If the Republicans win on immigration, they will benefit from having stood up for the 70+% of the American people who want our borders enforced, whereas if the Democrats win, it's entirely possible that we will have built a permanent majority based on demographics alone.
If there were any real statesmen left in Washington, they would find a way to break up this death match and implement solutions that treat people fairly, protect our borders and foster economic opportunity for Americans and foreigners alike. But there doesn't appear to be anybody like that left.
So, in the famous words of De La Soul, "the stakes is high"!