Most Open to Letting Immigrants Stay, Poll Shows

[troung]

Most Open to Letting Immigrants Stay, Poll Shows
By NANCY BENAC, AP

WASHINGTON (April 2) - A slim majority of Americans are open to allowing undocumented workers to obtain some sort of temporary legal status to remain in the United States, with stronger support for the idea among Democrats, younger adults and more educated Americans, a new poll finds.
Overall, 56 percent of Americans favor offering illegal immigrants a shot at some kind of legal status; roughly two-thirds of those ages 18-34 like the idea and an equal share of those with a college education agree, the AP-Ipsos survey found.

While Democrats were more likely to support temporary worker status, with 62 percent favoring the idea, even among Republicans there was majority support, by a narrower 52 percent, according to the poll.

The AP-Ipsos survey of 1,003 adults was conducted Tuesday through Thursday, as debate swirled in Congress over a proposal that would legalize many illegal immigrants in the United States and expand guest worker programs for an estimated 400,000 immigrants each year.

Two-thirds of Americans think illegal immigrants fill jobs that most Americans don't want, the poll found.

But the survey found greater ambiguity on whether illegal immigrants are good or bad for American society, on balance. Fifty-one percent said illegal immigrants mostly make a contribution to society, and 42 percent said they were mostly a drain.

Likewise, there was deep division on how serious a crime it should be enter the country illegally. Fifty-one percent thought it should be considered a "minor offense" and 47 percent considered it a "serious criminal offense."

Americans were skeptical that erecting a fence along the border with Mexico would reduce the number of illegal immigrants -- two-thirds doubted it would work.

The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.


4/2/2006 11:15:18


Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

[gunnut]

I have an easy and practical solution to this illegal immigration problem: free market.

Remove this welfare system from the entire population. Remove minimum wage. Document all those who want to come in and watch them like a hawk. Flat tax for everyone. And watch those "jobs that Americans don't want" get filled by Americans.

[Confed999]

I'm for letting criminals stay in a prison if they'd like...

[THL]

THIS is why immigrants need to be monitored. Here is one more woman that may be alive if this guy was either made to leave in 2001 when his Visa expired or had to register and be monitored.

Lewd calls made on slain housewife's cell phone
Witness: 'He kept saying pornographic, dirty things to me'

NEW CITY, New York (AP) -- Hours after a suburban housewife was raped and killed, her sister received a call made from the victim's cell phone in which a man lewdly described having sex with her, the sister testified.

Prosecutors say the caller was Douglas Herrera Castellanos, who is on trial for the killing of Mary Nagle, 42. They charge that Herrera, who was hired to wash Nagle's deck, raped and brutally killed her in her bedroom nearly a year ago.

Herrera, 30, an immigrant from Guatemala whose visa expired in 2001, faces a life term with no parole if convicted of first-degree murder. He also faces rape, robbery and burglary charges.

Testifying on what would have been Nagle's 43rd birthday, her sister, Donna McGrath said the caller told her he wanted to have sex with her, too. She said she tried unsuccessfully to get the man to tell her where he was.

McGrath was among five women who testified Monday about getting calls from Nagle's phone after she was killed. Three of the calls were obscene, they said.

Prosecutors say Herrera made the calls to women whose names he found in the cell phone's directory. They say he called the women as he left the Nagle home in this suburb north of New York City.

"He kept saying pornographic, dirty things to me," said Anna Solicito, a friend of Nagle's. "He was very calm, very matter-of-fact, like he enjoyed what he was saying."

A telephone company employee testified previously that Nagle's cell phone was used for more than 50 calls after she died, including several to Guatemala.

One of the detectives who conducted the first police interview with Herrera said the defendant repeatedly denied killing or raping Nagle.

Defense attorney Barry Weiss, trying to convince the jury that Herrera was intoxicated when the slaying occurred, pointed out that the suspect was not tested for alcohol although detectives smelled beer on his breath.

He also noted that the interview was not recorded, although audio- and videotaping equipment was in the police station where the questioning took place.

Weiss said he was considering having his client testify on Tuesday.

Nagle's husband, Daniel Nagle, said outside the courthouse that their children, ages 6 and 9, had made birthday gifts for their mother and insisted on a party Monday night, "so we're going to celebrate Mary's life."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/04/su....ap/index.html

[Jay]

USCIS was following a bad policy all these years, now it came kicking their ar$e, all together.

Illegeal immigrants have to documented and accounted for. If you threaten them with criminal action most of the will stay underground, which will help employers.

Indirectly they will still be using the roads, public transportation with out paying tax. We should find an amicable way to bring them to light.

But these illegals should not get their residency before the current legal backlog is done with. USCIS slept for 6 years with out processing hundreds and thousands of legal applications which should be condoned.

[Confed999]

If you threaten them with criminal action most of the will stay underground, which will help employers.

The only problem I have with that is, they are criminals. :(

[Jay]

The only problem I have with that is, they are criminals. :(

Ofcourse, thats why they are trying to change the laws ;) Politicians have deep pockets and these illegals are future votes, I think they'll succeed.