Despite media stories suggesting that increasing numbers of Americans feel negative on any subject related to immigration, a new survey suggests that nearly half of respondents don’t mind large numbers of people from other countries coming to the U.S.
The key component, according to the Pew Research Center, is if the immigration is done in an orderly legal manner.
“Nearly half of U.S. adults say legal immigration into the United States should be kept at present levels,” notes an analysis of the Pew results, while “fewer say it should be increased or decreased.”
Responses to the survey showed surprisingly little variation by demographic group, with 47% of both white and blacks in favor of keeping immigration at current level, and 42% of Hispanics saying the same thing.
The survey also indicated that 42% thought immigrants who are defined as “highly skilled,” such as computer programmers, doctors, nurses, and scientists, should be given top priority to legally immigrate to the U.S.
By the same token only 25% said the same about those lacking such skills, with an even smaller 19% agreeing with the premise that “people who have close family members already living in the U.S. should be given top priority.”
The age of the respondent also came into play with 50% of those in the 18 to 29 years of age category wanting to see an increase in legal immigration, compared with 19% of those 65 years of age or above.
Earlier this year the Pew research team reported that nearly 48 million immigrants were living in the U.S. as of the end of last year.
Roughly 1.2 million immigrants received a green card last year, a level that has held steady for most of the last decade, except for the Covid 19 years of 2020 and 2021, when that number fell to some 700,000.
The largest group of immigrants has received a green card through a family sponsorship, with the second largest group, according to the Pew analysis, receiving employment-based green cards that “generally go to foreign workers who are highly skilled or fill labor shortages.”
The survey comes as the President-elect Trump has yet to reveal his legal immigration policies, while high tech companies, according to the publication Politico, are pushing to let “more high-skilled immigrants into the U.S.
December 30, 2024
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
