WASHINGTON DC – New polling of likely voters in eleven swing states finds overwhelming support for passage of the No Sanctuary for Criminals (H.R. 3003) Act by the Senate. Moreover, with the critical mid-term elections just 14 months away, voters indicate that their senators’ position on H.R. 3003 would likely affect their vote.
From all indications, it is likely that despite those numbers, both of Illinois' U.S. Senators – Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth – would oppose the passage of the measure.
H.R. 3003, already passed by the House of Representatives, would hold state and local governments responsible for so-called sanctuary policies that protect deportable criminal aliens from being removed from the country.
The polling was conducted by Zogby Analytics in mid-August on behalf of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). The eleven states included in the survey are Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
The polls found that, by lopsided margins, voters in each of these states agree with provisions of the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act that would require state and local police to comply with federal requests to take custody of deportable foreign criminals, rather than release them back onto the streets.
Voters also strongly favor holding local governments accountable if criminal aliens are released back onto the streets and re-offend. By wide margins, voters approve of a provision that would allow victims of crimes committed by deportable criminals released under sanctuary policies, or their family members, to sue those jurisdictions.
“The poll shows that Americans want their state and local governments to cooperate with federal efforts to remove criminals from the United States. They demand accountability for these policies from the local governments that make them and they are also prepared to hold their federal officials accountable if they block this much needed legislation from becoming law,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR.
Notably, support for federal legislation to eliminate policies that prevent state and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities cuts across political, racial, ethnic, and socio-economic lines.
Among the key findings about voter opinion on H.R. 3003:
- In the eleven states in the survey, an average of 77.6 percent believe that police and sheriffs must comply with detainer requests by Immigration and Customs enforcement. An even greater percentage of Hispanic voters, 83.5 percent, support that requirement.
- An average of 73.4 percent of likely voters in those states believe sanctuary jurisdictions must be held accountable for crimes committed by people who were returned to the community because of those policies.
- Hispanic voters support H.R. 3003 by similar, or even larger majorities, than other segments of the electorate.
- Significant majorities of voters in all eleven states indicate that they are more likely to vote for Senate candidates who support H.R. 3003 and less likely to vote for those who oppose the bill.
“It is time for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to schedule debate and a vote on H.R. 3003,” declared Stein. “The bill has broad support from voters, particularly in states where there will be hotly contested Senate seats in 2018. All senators need to be put on notice that there is no constituency for protecting criminal aliens at the expense of public safety and that blocking the No Sanctuary for Criminals legislation from reaching the floor of the Senate will come at a high political cost.
“When it comes to putting criminal aliens back on the streets, voters demand accountability from the local officials who establish sanctuary policies and from federal lawmakers who block sensible legislation that would end these dangerous policies,” Stein concluded.
Click here to see the full poll results.
