Most Voters Oppose Public Schooling, Tuition Breaks, Driver’s Licenses For Illegal Immigrants

The Obama administration announced last week that it was slowing the deportation process for "low priority" immigration cases to focus on illegal immigrants with criminal records. Critics complain the move is intended to get around Congress' refusal to pass the so-called Dream Act aimed at providing a path to citizenship for those who came to the country illegally before age 16.  But a majority of voters remain opposed to giving the children of illegal immigrants the same educational opportunities as those who are here legally.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that only 32% of Likely U.S. Voters believe children of parents in this country illegally should be allowed to attend public school here. Fifty-three percent (53%) do not believe those young illegal immigrants should be allowed to attend public school. Fifteen percent (15%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) 
 

Last September, just 20% said local government should be required to provide a public school education for a child brought into the United States illegally by his or her parents. Sixty-four percent (64%) disagreed and said local governments should not be required to educate them. 
 

Seventy-two percent (72%) of voters believe parents should be required to prove they are legal residents of the United States when registering their child for public school. Twenty-one percent (21%) oppose such a requirement. 

Several states have made illegal immigrants eligible for lower in-state tuition at colleges and universities, but 81% of voters oppose such a move in their state. Just 12% think illegal immigrants should be eligible for these tuition breaks in their home state. Opposition to allowing illegal immigrants to be eligible for in-state tuition is slightly stronger than it was back in October 2007. 
 

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The national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on August 21-22, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.