GOP immigration reformers shouldn’t be afraid of vocal minority

Three major conservative organizations recently released the results of a new national survey of Republican Primary voters who identify with the Tea Party movement. Their findings pour a lot of cold water on what both the liberal and conservative media are telling us.

Seventy-one percent of Republican primary voters who identify with the Tea Party say it is important that Congress act on immigration reform this year.

Seventy-six percent support a plan that would include both a way for undocumented immigrants who are already here to stay if they pay penalties and back taxes, pass a criminal background check, and learn English and American civics, and improved border security and enforcement as well as.

Seventy percent support a plan that provides legal status or U.S. citizenship for undocumented immigrants who pay penalties and back taxes, pass a criminal background check, and learn English and American civics.

Sixty-nine percent would vote for a candidate who supports broad reform over one who supports border security only.

This national survey was conducted by Alexandria, Virginia based McLaughlin & Associates for the Tea Party Express, the Partnership for a New American Economy and Americans for Tax Reform in May of this year. They questioned 400 Republican voters from around the country. The total sample has a margin of error of +/- 4.9 percent.

Tea Party Co-founder Sal Russo argued in a recent article he wrote for a Washington DC newspaper that conservatives should take a leadership role in an immigration overhaul that would allow the nations 11 million undocumented immigrants to come out of the shadows. He said he said that would bring economic and national security benefits to the country.

Read the full article.