Poll: Immigrants Say Reform Debate Muddied by Racism and Congress' Bad Job

A recent poll of legal immigrants shows that they believe anti-immigrant sentiment is growing. Many people don't seem to like any immigrants, and legal immigrants see it as racism against Latinos and Asians. DP

By Tyler Lewis
civilrights.org: Legal immigrants in the U.S. have heard the debate raging around immigration reform in Congress - and they don't like it.

Sixty-seven percent of U.S. legal immigrants believe that an anti-immigrant sentiment is growing in the United States, according to a new multilingual poll released last week. A majority of the respondents believe this sentiment stems from racism toward Latinos and Asian Americans.

"This poll is significant because it takes the temperature of those closest to the current immigration debate," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), a co-sponsor of the poll, in a statement. "The survey results are striking and reinforce the call for responsible immigration reform worthy of a nation built by immigrants."

The poll was conducted by Bendixen & Associates, for New America Media, a nationwide association of more than 700 ethnic media outlets, the Center for American Progress, and LCCR's sister organization, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund.

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