A strong majority of Hispanics want President Barack Obama to use more executive actions to give amnesty to all of the country’s illegal immigrants if Congress does not pass an amnesty bill.
When asked if Obama should give executive amnesty and work permits to illegal immigrants “who do not have children and are working in the agriculture, restaurant or hotel service” if Congress does not enact an amnesty bill, 73% of Latinos said Obama should “use additional executive orders” to protect all illegal immigrants.
Support for additional executive actions received slightly less support when the question was worded differently. When the Latino Decisions poll asked Hispanic respondents, after Obama announced his executive amnesty, if Obama should give another executive amnesty to five to six million illegal immigrants who would not be protected and eligible for deportation if Congress does not pass an amnesty bill, 66% of Hispanics said Obama should issue additional executive orders, while 24% of Latinos said he should not.
The poll also found that 64% of Latinos know a friend or a family member who is an illegal immigrant, while 34% do not. But only 28% of Latinos said they knew “of any person or family who has faced detention or deportation for immigration reasons,” while 72% said they did not know anybody who is facing deportation.
Obama, after unilaterally giving temporary amnesty to certain DREAMers in 2012 with this Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, unilaterally granted temporary amnesty and work permits to nearly five million illegal immigrants last week.
The survey was conducted November 20 – 22, and its margin of error is +/- 4.9%.