According to a new Rasmussen poll, most Americans blame parents, not the federal government, for the ongoing border crisis.
The findings reveal that 54 percent of voters say parents are more to blame for breaking the law by crossing the border illegally. Meanwhile, only 35 percent blame the federal government for enforcing the laws already on the books. Eleven percent (11%) poll unsure.
Along party lines, most Republicans (82%) and Independents (56%) agree that parents are more responsible for the crisis in which hundreds of children have been separated from their adult family members who broke the law.
Most Democrats (60%) feel the government is at fault. A majority of Democrats (75%) also feel that the Trump administration has been “too aggressive” with enforcing immigration laws at the border.
Only 23 percent of Republicans agree.
The poll results come after President Trump signed an executive order ending his administration’s family separation policy by allowing children to be detained with their parents. The move came as a result of public outrage and pressure to end the policy.
Now children, instead of being held in safe border shelters, will be detained in jails with their parents until their parents’ cases are processed.
The Rasmussen survey of 1,000 likely U.S. voters was conducted from June 19-20 and has a margin sampling error of three percentage points.