Chapter 5 > The Global Economy > Immigration

U.S. Report - pdf version Leaders Questionnaire - pdf version Public Questionnaire - pdf version

Immigration

Related to the public’s concern about jobs for American workers is its uneasiness about immigration. Majorities of Americans favor reducing both legal and illegal immigration. Of special concern is controlling and reducing illegal immigration, which 70% say should be a very important goal of U.S. foreign policy. This percentage is up a substantial 15 points from 1998 when the U.S. economy was stronger, and is about comparable to the figure in 1994 when the economy was relatively shaky. Sixty percent say that large numbers of immigrants and refugees coming into the United States is a critical threat. This figure is up a bit from 1998, but substantially lower (by 12 points) than it was in 1994.

When asked directly if legal immigration should be kept at its present level, increased, or decreased, 55% favor decreasing immigration, 27% favor keeping it at the same level, and only 15% favor increasing it.

As one might expect, desires to decrease legal immigration are correlated with the concern about jobs as well as cultural anxieties. Both the goal of protecting the jobs of American workers and thermometer ratings for Mexico correlate at significant, though modest (r = .15) levels with immigration attitudes.

However, concern about terrorists entering the country also appears to be contributing to the high level of support for reducing immigration. Desires to decrease legal immigration are fairly strongly correlated (r = .30) with negative thermometer feelings about the Muslim people, and 77% of Americans say they favor restricting immigration into the United States as a way to combat terrorism. About the same number (76%) say that based on the events of September 11, 2001, U.S. immigration laws should be tightened to restrict the number of immigrants from Arab or Muslim countries into the United States (see Figure 5-6). A small majority of Americans (54%, with 43% opposed) also support using racial profiling in airport security checks.

In addition, a comparison of CBS/ New York Times and Gallup polls that asked identical questions about immigration shortly before and after the September 11 attacks shows a 10 percentage point increase after the attacks in the proportion of Americans that favor reducing immigration. This is further evidence of the correlation between concerns about terrorism and immigration policy, although the sentiment for reducing immigration appears to have dropped a bit since October 2001. In any case, unease about immigration has been an enduring feature of U.S. public opinion, long preceding the terrorist attacks.