Americans aren’t buying Vice President Kamala Harris excuse that her role as Border Czar isn’t to stop illegal immigration, but just to address its “root causes,” results of a new Scripps News/Ipsos survey reveals.
American adults rank “immigration” the second most important issue facing the country today, behind only “inflation or increasing costs,” the nationwide survey conducted September 13-15 finds. “Threats to Democracy” ranks a distant third place, in terms of importance.
Half of Americans (51%) are concerned that non-citizens will vote in the upcoming election, including 36% who say they’re “very concerned” this will happen.
A 54% majority of Americans support the mass deportation of illegal aliens. And, while 43% are at least somewhat opposed, less than a quarter 23% are “strongly” opposed to mass deportations.
More Americans believe Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump “will do a better job handling immigration” than Democrat candidate (and current Border Czar) Kamala Harris, 44%-34%. Twelve percent said “neither,” while the rest didn’t know or failed to answer the question.
On March 24, 2021, President Joe Biden announced he was tasking Vice President Harris to “lead our efforts’ in “stemming the movement of so many folks stemming the migration to our southern border.” While this did not confer upon her an official title, her role in reducing illegal immigration has been colloquially referred to as “Border Czar.”
Pres. Biden went on to say that he was washing his hands of the border crisis and giving Harris complete authority and sole responsibility for addressing the problem:
“[S]he’s leading the effort because I think the best thing to do is to put someone who, when he or she speaks, they don’t have to wonder about is that where the President is. When she speaks, she speaks for me. Doesn’t have to check with me.”
Harris then said she wanted to make it “clear that people should not come to the border now” and that “we will enforce the law.” She added that, she also “must address the root causes” (reasons) that prompt people to try to illegally enter the country.
However, with the illegal immigration crisis continuing to worsen and her campaign ramping up, Harris has begun claiming that her only responsibility has been to address the “root causes,” not to enforce immigration law or stem the tide of illegal immigration. She also claims that, since “Border Czar” isn’t an official position, she has no responsibility to secure the border.
The Scripps News/Ipsos survey asked Americans to describe their understanding of Harris’ responsibilities regarding the issue of immigration.
Only 10% say her sole responsibility is addressing the reasons why migrants leave their home countries to come to the U.S. – while more (17%) say Harris “is responsible for securing the southern border.”
What’s more, 20% say they have no idea what Vice President Harris’s immigration responsibility is. Another 24% believe Harris has little or no responsibility to deal with the border crisis, while 28% believe she should responsible for “some of both.”
About two-thirds of Americans say they want to restrict asylum and let local officials detain illegal immigrants, yet grant a path to citizenship to young children who illegally enter the U.S.
Fully 59% of Americans say they are following news about the immigration issue, including 23% who report that they are “very closely” tracking that news. Twenty-five percent (25%) say they’re following the topic “not very closely” and 15% say “not at all closely.”
Asked to identify their “main” news source, Americans cited a range of outlets, not one of which garnered at least 20% of the vote.