Trump isn’t telling the truth about illegal immigrants and crime. The public knows it.

In his push for stricter immigration laws President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that undocumented immigrants are a threat to public safety because of what he alleges is their propensity to commit crime.

This claim is false. The best available research shows that immigrants, legal or otherwise, are significantly less likely to commit crime than native-born citizens.

The latest survey from the Pew Research Center shows that an overwhelming majority understand this: By more than a 2-to-1 ratio, respondents said that undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States are no more likely to commit serious crimes than U.S. citizens.

The percentage of Americans who believe undocumented immigrants commit more crime is virtually unchanged since the summer of 2016, suggesting that the White House’s frequent and misleading messaging on immigrants and crime has not been effective.

(The Washington Post) Americans believe, correctly, that undocumented immigrants don't don’t commit more crime.

Other results from the survey show that the public is becoming more favorably disposed toward immigrants in the second year of the Trump administration. For the first time in at least two decades, for instance, the share of Americans who say that legal immigration should be increased (32 percent) is greater than the proportion saying it should be decreased (24 percent).

It’s not just Democrats driving this shift. The share of Republicans who say legal immigration should be decreased has fallen 10 points, from 43 percent in 2006 to 33 percent today. The share of Republicans saying legal immigration should be increased rose 7 points over that period.

The survey also finds that the American public is growing more sympathetic to the plight of undocumented immigrants. Sixty-nine percent of respondents told Pew they feel “very” or “somewhat” sympathetic toward undocumented immigrants, up slightly from 63 percent in 2013.

A majority of Americans have long supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and the survey finds that opposition to such a policy is further softening. The share of people who say providing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants is akin to “rewarding them for doing something wrong” has fallen by nine percentage points since 2015, from 36 percent to 27 percent.

Taken together, these numbers suggest that the Trump administration’s hardline immigration agenda, which involves cutting legal immigration, cracking down on undocumented immigrants and blaming immigrants for crime, economic woes and more, is embraced by a shrinking minority of the public.



from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/2Kwj0pe

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

U.S. nuns demand action to end ‘culture of silence’ on abuse

Vatican City • The largest U.S. association of Roman Catholic nuns urged its members Monday to report any sexual abuse of religious sisters by clergy and demanded that church authorities “take action to end a culture of silence, hold abusers accountable and provide support to those abused.” The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents about 80 percent of Catholic sisters in the U.S., issued a statement Monday in response to an Associated Press report about several sisters coming forward recently to denounce assaults by priests and bishops. The LCWR said it didn’t have data on incidents in the U.S. but thanked the sisters for speaking out. “We understand that reporting abuse requires courage and fortitude. However, bringing this horrific practice to light may be the only way that sexual abuse by those in positions of trust in the church community will be put to an end,” the association’s statement said. The conference has about 1,300 members in 300 orders. LCWR s
Read more

Latter-day Saint women can ‘remove prejudice’ and improve the world, Eubank says

Image
Highlights from Saturday evening’s women’s session of the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: 6:30 p.m.: Jesus heals our brokenness, says Primary leader (Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Cristina B. Franco, second counselor in the general presidency of the children’s Primary, speaks during the women's meeting Oct. 3, 2020. Cristina B. Franco, second counselor in the general presidency of the children’s Primary, discussed the healing power of Jesus Christ. She told about getting a new piano that fell off a hand truck during delivery and was damaged. The manager offered to give Franco and her husband, Rudy, a new piano, but Rudy would not hear of it. He wanted the broken one back. “Sisters and brothers, aren’t we all like this piano, a little broken, cracked and damaged, feeling like we will never be the same again?” Franco asked. But Jesus Christ can “heal brokenness,” when people have faith, repent and seek
Read more