OPINION: Increasing Border Security is No. 1 Priority to Americans

With a tidal wave of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border under President Joe Biden daily and Congress locked in a battle over border security, zealots pushing open borders are becoming increasingly out of touch with the American people. Under Biden’s reckless Open Borders agenda, 9 million illegal immigrants have entered the country through the southern border, including [more than] 1.8 million who escaped Border Patrol and are presumably living in the U.S. without documentation. [Recently] the Senate rejected the Biden/ Schumer immigration bill, temporarily preventing an open-borders agenda from being fully implemented. However, political elites dedicated to effectively eliminating the southern border and allowing rampant illegal immigration are far from finished. Where do the American people stand? A series of opinion polls since Biden’s border crisis became an inescapable threat to civil society shows that the public is increasingly against the assault on the southern border. Recent Gallup polling shows that among the 54 percent of Americans who disapprove of Biden’s job as president so far cite illegal immigration and open borders as the reason for their disapproval. The poll (https://news.gallup.com/poll/610322/immigration-leads-reasons-biden-detractors-disapprove.aspx) finds 19 percent of those who disapprove of Biden say [his] advancement of illegal immigration and open borders is their top concern, followed by his handling of the economy (9 percent), and inflation (5 percent). A recent PBS News/NPR/Marist poll finds the number-one priority to the largest share of the American public — 41 percent — is increasing security along the southern border to prevent illegal border crossings. Just 28 percent of the public cites allowing “Dreamers” to become citizens as their top priority, 15 percent say increasing America’s number of refugees is their top priority, and 14 percent say deporting illegals is their top priority. The poll (https://maristpoll.marist.edu/polls/the-road-to-the-general-election/) also finds support for immigration as a whole into the U.S. has declined by 9 percentage-points since July 2021, and 60 percent of U.S. adults give the Biden Administration poor marks on handling immigration. This sentiment is far from exclusive to Republicans — 66 percent of independents and 30 percent of Democrats, as well as 90 percent of Republicans take issue with Biden’s open-borders policy. The poll also finds that Americans say by 12 percentage points — 41 percent to 29 percent — Republicans are doing a better job at handling immigration than Democrats. To well over half of both Republicans and independents, immigration-curbing policies are top priorities for reform, according to the NPR/Marist poll. Among Republicans, 82 percent of voters say increasing security along the border to reduce border crossings or deporting illegals are their primary concerns, as opposed to allowing the children of illegal immigrants to stay in the country or taking more refugees. Among independents, 59 percent cite either increasing border security or deporting illegal immigrants as their primary concerns. Among Democrats, 69 percent say their top concerns are efforts to add more immigrants, whether though accepting additional refugees or allowing those who came to the U.S. illegally as minors to gain citizenship. A mid-January Morning Consult poll (https://pro-assets.morningconsult.com/wp-uploads/2024/01/Full-Data.pdf) also found that an increasing share of the American public believes illegal immigration harms our economy, with Americans saying 64 percent to 25 percent that illegal immigration hurts the U.S. economy. This includes 42 percent of Americans who voted for Biden in 2020. What is more, a January CBS News poll found Biden’s approval rating on the border crisis has fallen to its lowest point on record, with Americans giving the president negative marks by a margin of 70 percent to 30 percent. The poll (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-opinion-poll-americans-border-crisis/) also found Americans are fed up with Biden’s weak approach to border security and say by a margin of 63 percent to 16 percent that Biden should be tougher on illegal immigrants. The American people are making their voices heard in virtually every public-opinion poll — and they are demanding stricter border security and the deportation of those who enter the United States illegally. The radical open-borders agenda is supported by only a sliver of left-wing Democrats — not by a majority of the country. That should tell you all you need to know regarding “incentives” for open borders.     Manzanita Miller is an associate analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation, the research arm of Americans for Limited Government, a libertarian political advocacy group. The organization conducts policy research and publishes reports with the goal of reducing the size of the government.