Poll: Change 'birthright citizenship'

HAMDEN, Conn., Sept. 13 (UPI) -- About half of U.S. voters favor ending the practice of granting citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, a poll released Monday indicates.

Results of the Quinnipiac University poll also indicated a majority of voters said they believe the country's immigration policy should emphasize stricter enforcement over integrating illegal immigrants into U.S. society.

By a 48 percent-to-45 percent margin, Americans said the 14th Amendment, which now grants citizenship to anyone born in the United States, should be changed so children of illegal immigrants are not automatically granted citizenship.

Voters also said they thought the immigration policy should stress enforcement over integration, 68 percent to 24 percent.

"Many Americans want to end 'birthright citizenship,' an issue some Republican senators want to explore through congressional hearings," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Hamden, Conn.

Results also indicated participants, 70 percent to 25 percent, said it was wrong for a Muslim group to build a mosque and cultural center in New York near where planes piloted by terrorists crashed into the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

Results are based on a nationwide survey of 1,905 voters from Aug. 3-Sept. 7. The margin of error is 2.3 percentage points.