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 News from Around the Americas | April 2007 
Support for Fence Along Mexico Border Falls to 37% Statewide, Field Poll Finds
 Sharon Mcnary - Press-Enterprise
Survey: What form of border security do you support most?
Californians were evenly split last year over the idea of building 700 miles of fence along the Mexican border, but a new Field Poll released Monday shows support among the state's voters for the wall has fallen to just 37 percent.
Congress has agreed to fund the construction of about 300 miles of fence. On Monday, President Bush viewed a newly built portion of the $1.8 billion barrier in Yuma, Ariz.
Corine Quezada, a Riverside grad student who supports creation of a broad guest worker program, said she wasn't surprised that support for the border fence is falling, given past U.S. opposition to the Berlin Wall.
"I've heard from students who say it seems unfair for America to be building a wall when (U.S. presidents) told Germany to take down theirs," Quezada said.
Darlene Gnehm, 69, of Rialto, who was contacted by the Field Poll for the new survey, said she continues to support the idea of a fence.
"I think the fence would be a good thing, but I don't think it will solve the whole problem because if there's money available to exchange hands it seems like people can get what they want. There's always someone who will sneak in."
The Field Poll, produced for The Press-Enterprise and other California media subscribers, measured California voter opinions on the issue of illegal immigration. It surveyed 570 randomly selected voters statewide by telephone from March 20-31. The margin of error is 4.5 percentage points.
 Statewide, 59 percent of voters polled on immigration issues in March said they opposed the idea of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Only 3 percent said they favored the project.
That is a statistically significant, 11-point swing from last April's Field Poll, when 48 percent opposed the wall, and 47 percent were in favor, said Mark DiCamillo, poll director.
The survey does not ask people why they favor or oppose the fence.
Riverside, San Bernardino and other Southern California counties outside of Los Angeles County are more evenly divided, with 48 percent opposed to the fence and 45 percent in favor, DiCamillo said.
Southern California voters in counties outside of Los Angeles County tend to support immigration enforcement efforts more than voters polled in Los Angeles County or across the state, DiCamillo said.
That is because their counties -- including San Diego and Imperial -- are closer to the border and bear many of the expenses and impacts of illegal immigration. They have more Republicans than Democrats, and Republicans tend to see illegal immigration as a more serious problem than Democrats, DiCamillo said.
About 58 percent of poll respondents in Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange, Imperial and San Diego counties said illegal immigration is a very serious problem, while only 47 percent of Los Angeles County respondents called it very serious.
Asked about immigration law changes that would permit many of the nation's 12 million undocumented immigrants to get legal status and temporary work permits, 83 percent of those polled support such programs for illegal immigrants who have lived in the United States for several years.
That is a small increase from the 80 percent who supported such programs in July, and 75 percent in support last April, DiCamillo said.
"Immigration is a major problem, but you're not going to push everybody out of the country," said David Gomez, 66, of Rancho Cucamonga. "I would not automatically give them legal status. I would give them a way to earn their citizenship."
The poll results, which show that a majority of California voters support legalization and temporary worker programs, do not match the opinions of Inland area residents he speaks to each day, said Jason Mrochek, an anti-illegal immigration activist from Menifee who opposes such programs.
He said that a recent increase in the number of city councils and state legislators proposing anti-illegal immigration control laws shows a broad-based desire among Californians to crack down on illegal immigration.
"We wouldn't be seeing those things if we were a vocal minority," Mrochek said.
Reach Sharon McNary at 951-368-9458 or smcnary@PE.com
A majority of California voters support:
• Putting long-term undocumented workers on the path to citizenship: 83%
• Creating a temporary worker program for illegal immigrants: 67%
• Punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants: 63%
• Increasing the number of federal agents on the U.S.-Mexico border: 71%
• Rounding up, detaining and deporting illegal immigrants: 54%
A majority of California voters oppose:
• Building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border: 59%
SOURCE: FIELD POLL
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