California Republicans and Democrats both favor citizenship for undocumented residents, poll says
A new poll released on Tuesday suggests the vast majority of Californians regardless of political party support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
About 85% of Californians surveyed by the Public Policy Institute of California said they supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants if they met certain requirements, “including a waiting period, paying fines and back taxes, and passing criminal background checks,” according to the poll.
That concept has bipartisan appeal, with 93% of Democratic respondents and 68% of Republicans supporting a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
A majority of Californians also supports expanding health coverage for undocumented residents. Sixty-six percent of Californians surveyed said they supported health care coverage for undocumented immigrants in the state.
About 82% of Democrats said they favored health care coverage for undocumented immigrants, but a majority of Republicans — 77% — said they would oppose it.
“Strong majorities of Californians across party lines favor a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants,” said Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of the nonpartisan think tank. “After the year-long COVID crisis, two in three residents favor providing health care coverage for undocumented immigrants in California.”
The poll results come weeks after President Joe Biden introduced an immigration plan that could potentially lead to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants living in the United States. The statewide survey aligns with a national 2020 survey by the Pew Research Center that showed 75% of Americans supported a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants.
California is home to about 2 million undocumented immigrants. One 2019 report by the California Budget & Policy Center found that undocumented immigrants contribute nearly $3.2 billion in state and local taxes each year.
Amid the coronavirus crisis that has devastated California’s Latino communities, health care and immigrant advocates have called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to offer Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, coverage for undocumented adults.
Additionally, Assemblymen Joaquin Arambula, D-Fresno and David Chiu, D-San Francisco, authored legislation this year seeking to expand Medi-Cal coverage for low-income adults, ages 26 and over, regardless of their citizenship status. The Medi-Cal expansion would benefit just under 1 million undocumented Californians and cost the state an estimated $2.6 billion, according to a 2020 Legislative Analyst’s Office report.
California in 2016 began offering Medi-Cal coverage to low-income children regardless of their immigration status. Newsom expanded the program to undocumented young adults under age 26 in 2019.
Sarah Dar, health and public benefits policy director at the California Immigrant Policy Center, said the poll’s results signify that Californians understand the contributions of undocumented immigrants, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s no question of deservingness,” Dar said. “They live here, work here, pay taxes are over-represented in jobs that have been deemed essential during the pandemic.”
Dar is hopeful that a Medi-Cal expansion for undocumented seniors will be included in the next state budget.
This story was originally published March 30, 2021 at 9:00 PM with the headline "California Republicans and Democrats both favor citizenship for undocumented residents, poll says."