Most Americans in a new survey said they support the Biden administration hiring more border patrol agents and immigration judges as migrant surges persist at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Associated Press-NORC Center survey, released Friday, found that the majority of the public agrees with policy ideas related to immigration and security at the southern border, as legislation regarding the issue is currently stalled in the divided Congress.
Roughly 58 percent of respondents said they strongly or somewhat favor the U.S. hiring more immigration judges and court personnel to speed up the process for asylum seekers. The survey also found that 64 percent strongly or somewhat favor hiring more border patrol agents.
When broken down by party, 79 percent of Republicans said they support hiring more border patrol agents, compared to 54 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of independents who said the same, per the poll.
About half of the respondents agreed that the country should reduce the number of migrants allowed to seek asylum in the U.S. when they arrive at the southern border, the survey found.
Just over half, 58 percent, of adults rank immigration as an important issue to them, but it is still seen as less important than the economy, health care, crime or gun policy, according to the poll.
Overall, 31 percent of respondents approve of President Biden’s handling of immigration in the most recent survey, which has improved over the last year. Less respondents, 30 percent, approve of Biden’s handling of border security, which has declined over the last year.
Of the proposed solutions to prevent illegal crossings, the most polarizing has been the border wall. Just 42 percent of respondents said they support building a wall, with Republicans more likely to support that option, per the report.
The Biden administration earned a win recently, after a federal appeals court issued a ruling Tuesday that extends the block on a Texas immigration law that would give local law enforcement the authority to arrest people suspected of entering the country illegally.
In his State of the Union address earlier this month, Biden called on Congress to send him a border bill after months of failed negotiation.
The AP-NORC survey was conducted March 21-25 among 1,282 adults and has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.
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