Americans Increasingly Unite Around Border Security
The percentage of Americans who consider the state of the U.S.-Mexico border to be a “crisis” has increased to 45% in 2024, according to new polling, up from 39% in 2023 — a trend demonstrating that border security is increasingly becoming a nonpartisan issue for most Americans.
In 2019, 27% of Americans polled by Gallup suggested that immigration into the United States should increase, 37% said it should remain at the current levels (at that time) and 35% of Americans said it should decrease — respondents were not asked to draw a distinction between legal and illegal immigration. In June 2023, the number of Americans looking to decrease immigration rose to 41%. Though a majority (65%) of respondents said that immigration is a “good thing” for the country, nearly half the country (47%) believes that immigration creates greater levels of crime.
Americans have remained fairly split down the middle for approximately 10 years, that is until new polling was released to reflect citizens’ opinions on the open southern border going into 2024.
While feelings regarding immigration generally remain positive, Americans are increasingly frustrated with illegal immigration, and the strain it has placed on communities around the country. According to a 2024 CBS poll, 68% of Americans believe that the federal government should “be tougher” on “immigrants crossing at the border,” an increase of nearly 10% in just four months since the previous round of polling.
Additionally, 45% of Americans now consider the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border a “crisis,” while another 30% consider it “very serious” and 18% “somewhat serious.” Only 7% of respondents said that it is “not much of a problem.” 55% of those who responded to the CBS poll said that they would “oppose” temporarily housing migrants in their town, compared to just 48% who would oppose it in May of 2023.
John Fetterman, a United States Senator from Pennsylvania who has earned the ire of conservatives on numerous occasions, particularly for choosing to wear sweatshirts and basketball shorts when appearing before Congress, articulated what has been widely considered the moderate position on the border crisis in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“I honestly don’t understand why it’s controversial to say ‘we need to secure [the] border.’ I’ve been very clear,” the Senator explained. “I think two things can be true at the same time — you can be very supportive of immigration, but we also need to have a secure border.”
Sen. Fetterman continued, “And I really — I think about immigration is we want to provide the American dream for any migrant, but it seems very difficult when you have 300,000 people showing up, encountered at our border to do that. And I think we need to reset and we have to work together and develop a new comprehensive solution to that.”
Additionally, liberal Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs announced the mobilization of the Arizona National Guard at the southern border to assist federal agencies and local law enforcement in a December press release, in which she also condemned the federal government for “refusing to do its job to secure our border and keep our communities safe.”
Americans also voiced their opinions to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other lawmakers who were confronted by an angry crowd shouting “close the border” throughout their press conference in Manhattan. New York City has been fraught with difficulty ever since Texas Governor Greg Abbott began sending illegal immigrants to “sanctuary cities” around the country to not only ease the strain on border town resources but to also shift the national conversation surrounding border security, a tactic that has seemingly been effective, considering new polling data.
