More than half of Virginians say their local and state governments should use taxpayer resources to enforce federal immigration laws, according to a poll by L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at VCU.
Of the respondents, 40 percent said their localities should not be required to use their own resources and five percent didn’t know or didn’t wish to answer.
This comes at a time when national debate over the controversial issue of sanctuary cities is heightened. Many cities like Washington D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles have openly argued that their local law enforcement will not work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to identify and deport non-citizens.
The poll also explored opinions on deportation.
Of those polled, 39 percent said undocumented immigrants should only be deported if they have committed a serious crime and 22 percent said those who had committed any crime should be deported.
Unrelated to crime, 31 percent said all undocumented immigrants should be deported and a small 6 percent said undocumented immigrants should never be deported.
Both questions on immigration were addressed in the arena of public safety. Local governments argue that using local resources to enforce federal immigration laws may affect public safety.
They worry the presence of ICE in localities will discourage immigrants to contact police if they witness or are a victim of a crime.
The results also play a role in Virginia’s upcoming statewide elections on Nov. 7.
In another poll released by the Wilder School on Aug. 8, Virginians were asked about their voting intentions in the elections for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.
Democrats have a slight lead in all three races.
The poll shows Democrat Ralph Northam holding a 5-point lead over Republican Ed Gillespie in Virginia’s governor’s race, with Libertarian Cliff Hyra receiving only 6 percent of the vote. However, about 15 percent of voters remain undecided in all three races.
Each poll sampled 806 people around the five regions of Virginia over cell phones and landlines from July 17-25, both with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
When broken down by political affiliation, a little less than 75 percent of Republicans said they support using local resources to enforce federal immigration laws versus only 20 percent of Democrats.
Among independents, 57 percent support the Republican majority on this topic.
According to Robyn McDougle, faculty director of the Office of Public Policy Outreach in The Wilder School who also conducted the poll, the undecided independents will decide who is going to be in the Governor’s mansion come Nov. 7.
“[The polls] say that this idea of immigration is an important topic in Virginia. Whatever policy platforms the candidates running for all three offices, specifically governor, how they respond to and state their views on that immigration enforcement policy is going to have an impact on the independent undecided voters,” McDougle said.
McDougle asked questions about age, gender, income, level of education, political party affiliation and employment, which provides insight on how Virginians demographics may align with specific issues.
“You’ll continually see use with these polls tied to where people identify themselves as Republican, Democrat or Independent are on these issues,” McDougle said. “It’s [also] important for all the candidates to see where their base is on political issues.”
The next poll will be released on Aug. 22 and will address economic and workplace development.
SaraRose Martin
Staff Writer