Most Americans see illegal immigration as a critical threat

Joe Biden and Donald Trump will visit the border this Thursday. They do so at a time when there is an unprecedented border crisis and when Americans view illegal immigration with great concern. For the majority of voters, the immigration issue is the main problem facing the country.

"Significantly more Americans name immigration as the most important problem facing the U.S. (28%) than did a month ago (20%). Immigration has now passed the government as the most often cited problem, after the two issues tied for the top position the past two months," a Gallup poll explained.

Additionally, a large majority of Americans (55%) considered “large numbers of immigrants entering the United States illegally is a critical threat to U.S. vital interests." The previous high was 50% in 2004.

Americans demand tougher immigration policy

In that sense, Gallup indicated that the 28% who currently name immigration as the most important problem essentially ties the study of 27% from July 2019 as the highest in surveys conducted by the firm. Likewise, Gallup pointed out that the number of Democrats who see immigration as a problem has increased - at least nine points - from 20% in 2023 to 29%.

"Residents of the East (36%) and South (31%) are more likely to say immigration is the biggest U.S. problem than are those living in the Midwest (25%) and West (22%)," the study detailed.

The data is known precisely when citizens demand tougher policies from the Government to control the border crisis. For the first time, more than half of voters (53%) is in favor of finishing the wall on the southern border and 61% ask that those without papers be returned to Mexico or wait there while their case is being studied, against Alejandro Mayorkas' "catch and release" policy on national soil, according to a Monmouth University survey.