Minorities Overwhelmingly Support Immigration Ban To Fight Coronavirus, Poll Finds
A recent survey has found that an overwhelming majority of minority groups in the United States support a moratorium on immigration to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
A USA Today/Ipsos poll conducted earlier this month found that 71 percent of Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian-Americans support a ban on immigration as a means to fight the coronavirus pandemic, a notable result given the many critics of the Trump administration claiming an immigration ban is xenophobic.
Only 16 percent of minority respondents disagreed with the idea of blocking immigration amid the pandemic. Even more white Americans, 83 percent, supported a ban.
The poll was conducted between April 9 to 10, before President Donald Trump first took to Twitter to announce a large-scale prohibition on immigration to protect Americans’ health and job security.
The poll had a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Upon the president’s announcement, Democratic lawmakers immediately lambasted the proposal as xenophobic and racist.
“Trump will ban immigration but allow some Southern states to loosen restrictions,” Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota tweeted shortly after his announcement. “This has nothing to do with our safety and everything to do with his blatant xenophobia.”
“President Trump now seeks to distract us from his fumbled COVID-19 response by trying to put the blame on immigrants,” Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York said.
“This is a disgrace — demonizing so many of those who are serving on the front lines against COVID while the President shows himself as small and ineffective.”
Trump’s plan, unveiled Wednesday, specifically restricts many green card applicants abroad from entering the U.S., but leaves exceptions for temporary migrant workers.
Other recent surveys find strong minority support, among Hispanics in particular, for a number of immigration-related items that are opposed by Democratic lawmakers.
A Rasmussen Weekly Immigration Index conducted from April 12 to 16, for example, found that 71 percent of Hispanics favored E-Verify as a way to ensure employers only hired legal workers.
Furthermore, 62 percent of Hispanics agreed that if a business is struggling to fill open positions, it should raise wages instead of importing foreign workers, even if it means that prices rise.
A survey released on Friday by Latino Decisions found that, despite Hispanics being a fairly loyal constituency for the Democratic Party, just 49 percent of Latino registered voters would pull the lever for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
The results indicated lower support for Biden compared to prior Democratic presidential nominees.
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