American Families United Act Backed By Wide Margins, Outperforms Other Immigration Bills in National Polling

May 6, 2021 - A poll of 1,200 registered voters across the United States by SurveyUSA found widespread support for the American Families United Act, and support at a higher margin than either the American Dream and Promise Act or Farm Workforce Modernization Act.

56% of registered voters support the American Families United Act. Only 10% of registered voters oppose. The rest are either neutral or don't know.

Net support -- the percentage opposing subtracted from the percentage supporting -- for the American Families United Act is at Plus 46, compared to Plus 39 for the American Dream and Promise Act and Plus 18 for the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. This strength of the American Families United Act relative to these two other bills is even more pronounced among registered Republican voters.

More about these bills:

The bipartisan American Families United Act, HR 2920, focuses on the immigration and citizenship issues that separate U.S. citizens from their spouses and children. More than 1.3 million US citizens have experienced family separation because their family includes the spouse of a U.S. citizen who has been refused a visa or deported from the United States; another 2.7 million U.S. citizens are facing the possibility of family separation for this reason. 

While people ordinarily may be denied permission to live in the United States for a variety of reasons, immigration workers and judges can sometimes balance other factors to waive these reasons. Currently, those factors do not include the right of a US citizen to live with their family in the United States.

The American Families United Act would address this issue by allowing U.S. citizens to request a case-by-case waiver for the non-citizen spouse and children for many of the reasons they ordinarily may be denied permission to live in the U.S. Judges and others authorized to hear immigration cases would not have the discretion to reunite families if the non-citizen is a national security threat or has a history of serious criminal activity.

The American Dream and Promise Act, HR 6, previously known as the DREAM Act, would allow people who were brought to the United States illegally when they were children to apply for immigration without the need to get a visa, allowing them to legally live in the United States. Applicants must already be in the United States to apply. This bill has passed in the U.S. House of Representatives and a companion bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate.

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act, HR 1603, would allow farm workers who are living and working illegally in the United States, as well as their spouses and children, whether the spouses and children are inside or outside the United States, to apply for immigration without a visa, allowing them to legally live in the United States. This bill has passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.