Immigration worries US public

2006-04-09 12:03

Washington - Rising anxiety over immigration has pushed the issue close to the economy in the public's view of the most important problems facing the United States, according to an AP-Ipsos poll. Those issues ranked slightly behind war in Iraq and elsewhere.

Immigration's rise in the latest survey about the nation's top problems suggests the public is keeping close watch on the immigration debate in congress and reaction around the country.

Efforts in the senate to pass sweeping immigration legislation faltered Friday, leaving in doubt the prospects for passage of a measure that offered the hope of citizenship to millions of men, women and children living in the United States illegally.

When people were asked this past week to name the top national problem that came to mind, 13% said immigration - four times the number who said that in January.

Roughly the same number, 14% of those polled, named the economy, according to the poll of 500 adults conducted April 3-5. The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

More than 11 million illegal immigrants are believed to be in the United States now, with thousands more coming in all the time. About 1.2 million illegal immigrants were apprehended last year along the nation's southwest border with Mexico, according to immigration officials.

As immigration concerns have grown, economic worries have dipped. Only 14% now say the economy and related issues are their top concern, compared with 24% in October.

About one in five, 19%, said they view war as the nation's top problem.

- AP