Virginians are divided on how to respond to illegal immigration, an issue that is gaining prominence as politicians campaign for the fall elections, according to a study from George Mason University.
The survey of 1,072 Virginians found that 41 percent of the commonwealth’s citizens support giving legal permanent residency to illegal immigrants, while 39 percent back temporary residency and 20 percent want the aliens booted from the country. Disagreement over the residency issue helped doom immigration legislation in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, effectively ending any chances of congressional action until 2009.
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“Given the difficulty that federal legislation has faced, we need to pay careful attention to perceptions at the state and local level,” said sociologist Steven Vallas, director of GMU’s Center for Social Science Research, which released the survey findings Thursday.
Views on immigration tend to break along geographical lines, the survey found. Northern Virginians and Charlottesville residents are more likely to favor policies allowing illegal immigrants to achieve residency. Virginians in the southern section of the state, which is much more conservative than Northern Virginia and Charlottesville, support proposals to crackdown on illegal immigration.
Candidates for state and local offices say that immigration is becoming a major topic in constituent discussions, topping perennial quality-of-life issues.
“In my door-to-door visits, transportation is not the overriding issue, immigration is,” said Sen. Jay O’Brien, R-Clifton.
Legislators introduced dozens of bills dealing with illegal immigration during this year’s General Assembly session, but any bills making significant changes to state law perished. Several passed the House only to die in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee, which is studying Virginia’s immigration statutes in preparation for another flood of bills in January.
Lawmakers and Gov. Tim Kaine did agree on a bill creating the Virginia Commission on Immigration, something that Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas, first proposed five years ago. The panel, to be composed of lawmakers, members of the public, and state and local officials, is charged with advising the governor and General Assembly about immigration’s impact on Virginia.
