Forty-one percent of people questioned in the survey say all illegal immigrants currently in the country should be removed, up 15 points from 2008. And 88 percent say more federal law enforcement officials are need along the border with Mexico, up 14 points from four years ago. The poll also indicates that 54 percent back a 700-mile-long fence along the Mexican border, up nine points from 2006.
“Support for more crackdowns on employers who hire illegal immigrants is high and also on the rise, from 58 percent four years ago to 71 percent now,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “Seven in ten would support a federal ID card that everyone would have to show to an employer.”
Eight in ten also support a program that would allow illegal immigrants already in the U.S. to stay here and apply for legal residency if they had a job and paid back taxes. But only 38 percent say that program should be a higher priority than border security and other get-tough proposals.
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