By Chantal Da Silva
Chief Correspondent
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As the U.S. Supreme Court weighs the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a new study from the Pew Research Center has found that nearly three-quarters of Americans are in favor of granting DACA beneficiaries, people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, permanent legal status in America.
Conducted by the Pew Research Center between June 4 to 10, the poll asked 9,654 U.S. adults whether they would support giving permanent legal status to people brought to the U.S. as children, known as Dreamers.
Of the nearly 10,000 people surveyed, 74 percent said they would be in favor of a law giving Dreamers permanent legal status in the U.S., while 24 percent were opposed to the idea.
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Following party lines, Democrats were vastly more in favor of such a measure, compared to Republicans, with 91 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents saying they would support the measure, while around just over half (54 percent) of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents said the same.
The poll also found that support for the idea appeared to vary by race and ethnicity, with 88 percent of Hispanics saying they would support granting legal status to Dreamers. Similar shares of U.S.-born and immigrant Hispanics agreed with that sentiment.
Meanwhile, 82 percent of black respondents said they were in favor of the idea, while 72 percent of Asian American participants said they also supported the measure. Among white participants, 69 percent said they would support the measure.
The poll's findings come as the Supreme Court is expected to rule as soon as Thursday on whether the Trump administration was within its bounds to try to end the DACA program, a decision that could end protections for some 700,000 immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.
The Trump administration has sought to phase out the Obama-era DACA program, but lower courts have blocked the government's efforts, ruling in favor of plaintiffs who argue that the decision was in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, a federal statute that governs the way in which federal administrative agencies can establish regulations.
The Trump administration appealed the decision, pushing the case up to the Supreme Court.
Despite President Donald Trump's apparent determination to see the DACA program dissolved, support for giving its recipients permanent legal status in the U.S. has remained largely unchanged since June 18, 2018, when the Pew Research Center also took a temperature on Americans' feelings on the issue.
At the time, 73 percent of Americans were in favor of granting permanent legal status to immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, while just 20 percent were opposed.
But while Americans showed overwhelming support for Dreamers being able to stay in the U.S., a similar portion also believed that there should be a way for most undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. to stay in the country legally, provided certain conditions are met.
Of those polled, 75 percent said they believed undocumented immigrant should have a path to staying in the U.S. legally, while 24 percent disagreed.
Democrats and Democratic leaners were more likely to show support, with 89 percent in favor, while 57 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning participants were in favor of such a measure. Those views are also similar to the ones Americans conveyed in August 2019, when the Pew Research Center took a similar poll.
Among Hispanic participants, more immigrants (94 percent) than U.S.-born (82 percent) were in favor of such a measure, while majorities of black (81 percent), Asian (76 percent) and white (70 percent) participants were also in support of the idea.
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