Poll shows Georgians think most new immigrants are illegal

September 12, 2006

A majority of Georgians feel immigration is good for the country, but nearly two-thirds believe that most of those immigrants came to the United States illegally, says to a new statewide poll.

Almost 65 percent of Georgians surveyed think that immigrants get too much help from the government. Nearly half the state believes that immigration should be decreased.

The Peach State Poll is a quarterly publication by the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute of Government. The poll director said the numbers show that views on immigration have not changed much in Georgia since a poll conducted in December 2001.

'People are very tolerant of others retaining their culture but not necessarily changing our culture,' he said. 'Georgians like the Georgian culture, the southern culture.'

Georgians are somewhat less likely than the rest of the country to approve of immigration - a national Gallup poll found 67 percent of Americans believe that immigration is good for the country, compared to the 53 percent of Georgians who feel that way.

The percentage of Georgians who feel immigration is bad has fallen since the in the past five. Today just 33 percent say immigration is negative, compared to 38 percent five years ago.

Most Georgians - 67 percent - are not bothered by hearing Spanish spoken in public, but many (41 percent) residents are irritated by signs and advertisements in Spanish.

Georgia had the largest percentage increase in illegal immigration in the country between 2000 and 2005, according to a Department of Homeland Security report released in August. The state now averages 50,000 illegal immigrants moving into the state per year, an increase of 114 percent over that five-year period.

Nationally, the Office of Immigration Statistics estimates nearly 11 million illegal immigrants lived in the U.S. by January, with nearly a third being recent arrivals from 2000 onward.