August 16, 2005
By
Roberto Suro
Director, Pew Hispanic Center
Pew Hispanic Center
A Pew Research Center Project
www.pewhispanic.org
1615 L Street, NW, Suite 700 • Washington, DC 20036-5610 • Phone: 202-419-3600 • Fax: 202-419-3608
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Attitudes toward Immigrants and Immigration Policy:
Surveys among Latinos in the U.S. and in Mexico
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Attitudes toward Immigrants and Immigration Policy:
Surveys among Latinos in the U.S. and in Mexico
Executive Summary
Although an overwhelming majority of Hispanics expresses positive attitudes toward
immigrants, relatively few Hispanics favor increasing the flow of legal immigration from Latin
America and a significant minority, concentrated among native-born Latinos, is concerned that
unauthorized migrants are hurting the economy. One hotly-debated means to discourage
unauthorized migration—laws that deny drivers’ licenses to people who are in the country
illegally—draws support from a majority of the native born, according to a survey of the Latino
population in the United States conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center (PHC).♦
Meanwhile, separate PHC surveys conducted in Mexico show that about four of every ten
adults in the Mexican population say they would migrate to the United States if they had the
means and opportunity and that two of every ten are inclined to live and work here without legal
authorization. The willingness to migrate, even illegally, is evident in all sectors of Mexican
society including the middle class and the well-educated as well as those who are poor and who
only completed low-levels of schooling.
Several major immigration reform bills were introduced in Congress earlier this summer,
and President George W. Bush has said recently that he expects to see action on the topic when
he and the Congress return to Washington in September. The various proposals under