White evangelicals less likely to favor amnesty for illegal immigrants, survey finds

White evangelical Christians are least likely to support amnesty for illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children, according to a survey published Thursday.

However, the majority of religiously affiliated Americans surveyed by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) support a requirements-based “pathway” for all illegal immigrants to attain citizenship.

The percentage of Americans who say immigration is a critical national issue has increased in several camps, the D.C.-based research group said.

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Percentages for respondents who say the issue is “critical” climbed from 38% in 2013 to 54% in 2021 for White evangelical Protestants, from 36% in 2013 to 57% in 2021 for White Catholics and from 32% in 2013 to 53% in 2021 for White mainline Protestants, according to the PRRI survey.

The majority of Americans (56%) say that immigrants generally strengthen society, but the percentage of Republicans saying the influx of immigrants “threaten American values” has soared from 55% in 2011 to 71% today, PRRI reported.

The emotionally charged issue of immigration, particularly of undocumented or illegal entrants to the United States, has roiled the American political landscape for years.

During the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, the Department of Homeland Security recorded 1.7 million border arrests of illegal migrants, and officials told Reuters in January that as many as 9,000 migrants might be arrested daily by this spring.

Roughly 6 in 10 Americans (62%) said they support a pathway to citizenship for those living in the U.S. illegally — a number estimated at 11 million people — provided they meet certain requirements. The survey information supplied to The Washington Times did not specify those requirements.

Natalie Jackson, PRRI’s director of research, said via email that the group “did not define ‘certain requirements,’ so that is up to the respondents’ interpretation. It could certainly mean different things to different people.”

PRRI said that majorities of all religious groups surveyed backed the pathway idea, except for White evangelical Protestants, who registered 47% support, down from 56% in 2013.

For Black Protestants, the percentage supporting a pathway was 70%, and Hispanic Catholics approved by the same percentage. About 54% of White Catholics and 59% of White mainline Protestant church members supported the move, according to the survey.

Support for so-called Dreamers, immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children, was slightly higher at 64%, PRRI said. Only White evangelical Protestants, at 47%, and those who identify as Republicans (44%) did not approach majority support for the idea.

The survey, Ms. Jackson said, helps explain why making progress on immigration issues is often so difficult.

“When we consider the popularity of various policy proposals, we always have to consider how important it is to people in addition to what they want to see happen,” she said. “In the case of immigration policy, proposals that have strong majority support are simply not deemed critical needs by most Americans. That disconnect helps explain why we see bills introduced in Congress but little demand for those bills to move forward.”

PRRI said the online survey was conducted Sept. 16-29 using interviews of 2,508 adults in all 50 states. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.