Immigration views now focus on security, poll says
By Diane Smith
The Dallas Fort Worth Star-Telegram
February 20, 2003
Americans' concerns over national security outweigh support for increasing immigration, even though most believe immigrants enhance society, according to a national poll released Wednesday.
More than a year after 9-11, Americans view immigration with regard to safety rather than social and economic stances, according to the survey by Hamilton College in New York and polling firm Zogby International.
"Immigration policy used to focus on welfare issues, and now it focuses on terror and security," said Paul Hagstrom, a Hamilton College economics professor who designed and analyzed the survey of 1,078 randomly selected adults.
Hagstrom said 63 percent of Americans would support a policy that stops all immigration from countries suspected of harboring terrorists. He said those concerns are mirrored at the local level.
"Over half of all Americans would feel very or somewhat uncomfortable if an immigrant from the Middle East moved into their neighborhood," the study found.
The numbers were slightly lower for immigrants from other parts of the world.
Twenty-two percent of Americans said they would feel very or somewhat uncomfortable if European immigrants moved into their neighborhood.
The figures for other groups were 27 percent for Asian immigrants and 29 percent for Mexican immigrants.
Forty-one percent of U.S. residents favor decreasing immigration levels, even though 57 percent believe that immigrants strengthen U.S. society. Views supporting immigration reduction appeared stronger in central and Southern states, the poll found.
There is more emphasis on security with regards to immigration since 9-11, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C.
"It's really more a matter that security has become more tightly connected to immigration in the public mind," he said.
Hagstrom said 9-11 continues to affect attitudes toward immigrants and refugees.
While Americans have been historically welcoming to refugees who are fleeing political, ethnic or religious persecution, 70 percent of those polled said refugee levels should not be increased to pre-9-11 levels.
"That to me was a very startling finding -- that these sentiments run deep enough that we are not going to be willing to accept refugees," Hagstrom said.
The United States has been one of the most welcoming countries for refugees, according to World Relief, the international assistance arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, USA in Baltimore. The group has helped resettle refugees in Tarrant County.
Matthew Pugh, a spokesman for the organization, said that despite the poll results, Americans have always reached out to refugees.
"We do understand issues of security. We know those have to be followed as well," he said.
But the United States continues to have a spirit of helping immigrants and refugees, Pugh said.
"America is the greatest country. It's our responsibility and duty to reach out to these people," he said.
The poll was funded by the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center at Hamilton College and was administered by Zogby International, which has offices in New York and Washington, D.C.
The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.