Most Americans say unaccompanied minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border should be allowed to stay at least for a while, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Fifty-one percent of Americans surveyed said they shouldn’t be deported, a figure that cuts against the views of the Obama administration and congressional Republicans, who disagree about how to treat them but agree that they should be sent back quickly.
Of the 51 percent, 38 percent said the U.S. should care for the children until it was safe for them to return to their home countries, while 13 percent wanted to let them stay.
Thirty-two percent of Americans said the undocumented children should be swiftly deported.
Obama and congressional Democrats insist the children should be given due process for removal. Republicans have pushed to change a 2008 law in order to let U.S. officials deport the children more speedily.