Poll: Most don’t want Dreamers deported

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Just 1 in 5 Americans want to deport young immigrants brought to the United States as children and now here illegally, the focus of a politically fraught debate between the White House and Congress.

Americans also have largely negative opinions about President Donald Trump’s signature immigration pledge to build a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Just under half – 49 percent – oppose construction, while 32 percent support it.

On Sunday, Trump told lawmakers his hardline immigration priorities, including the wall, must be approved if he is to go along with protecting the young immigrants from deportation.

About 800,000 young immigrants had been given a deportation reprieve under President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA, until Trump ended the program last month. He’s given Congress six months to act.

About 60 percent of Americans favor allowing those young immigrants, commonly referred to as Dreamers, to stay in the U.S. legally, compared with 22 percent who are opposed. Just 19 percent of respondents say all these childhood arrivals should be deported.

Among those who favor a border wall, 38 percent also favor allowing Dreamers to stay.

“What you see is growing support within the voters overall in giving Dreamers a path to citizenship,” said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, an immigration advocacy group founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.