A recent poll shows a majority of Texans oppose deportation of so-called "dreamers" and raising eyebrows about the future of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
The UT/Texas Tribune Poll found 59-percent of Texans agree that illegal aliens brought to the U.S. as children should be allowed to stay.
“This may seem like a surprising result given that Texas tends to hold a pretty large wellspring of punative attitudes toward
illegal immigration in particular, but in this case we're talking about undocumented children,” says Josh Blank, spokesperson for The Texas Politics Project.
Meanwhile, 86 percent of Democrats want DACA to continue. Blank says a closer look at the question shows division on DACA even among Republicans.
“Among Republicans who identify with the Tea Party, 69 percent said the program should be ended,” he says. “Among non-Tea Party Republicans, 48 percent say the program should be continued but only 41 percent said it should be ended.”
“The base of the party still wants to hold conservative immigration attitudes even when talking about children, but the more moderate wing of the party thinks that this is probably a good program or at least doesn't want to hurt a bunch of children.”