Immigration is most important issue for Americans: poll

AUSTIN, Texas - For the first time since 2019, immigration is the most important issue for Americans, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday morning. 

The poll comes ahead of planned visits to the border on Thursday, Feb. 29 by both presidential front-runners, as each tries to spin the issue in his own favor. For their likely rematch this November. 

Matt Mackowiak, chair of the Travis County Republican Party, and Democratic analyst Ed Espinoza joined FOX 7 Austin's Mike Warren to discuss.

Mike Warren: Ed, beginning with you, that same Gallup poll found that President Biden's approval rating on immigration is just 28%. And the Border Patrol union says this visit is too little, too late. How can the president overcome his reputation on the border? 

Ed Espinoza: Well, I'll remind the Border Patrol union that the president was just down there one year ago. And I would say it's never too little when the president of the free world, the leader of the free world, shows up somewhere. Look what they can do to secure the border and make sure that things go right down. There is pass the bipartisan border bill. Something that the Border Patrol union was heavily in favor of. Something that Biden and his administration have worked on since last year with Republican senators from Oklahoma. Now, this is something that was ready to pass until Donald Trump said, don't pass the bill. It's bad for our politics. We need this to be an issue in the election. Will Donald Trump bring that up on his issue to the border? Probably not. But that's one thing that can happen right away. Pass the damn bill.

Mike Warren: That's the real politics of this. And Matt Mackowiak. Yet talking about that, I mean, we just heard what Democrats are saying about the Republicans not passing this combined immigration bill. And you listen to Republicans, and they say, well, "this bill would not have helped anything." If that's the case, why not just pass it? And it's still a good political issue because nothing much would change at the border if it's not a good bill, and it's not effective. You know, the Border Patrol union, they get a raise. Is there anything in that bipartisan bill? Well, one Republican senator, was there anything in that bill that was good? I mean, it's better to have something than nothing, right? 

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Matt Mackowiak: Yeah, I think there are a couple of points, right. The first is this idea that House Republicans have done nothing is a lie. I mean, it's really a scurrilous lie. They passed H.R. two last year. H.R. two is the strongest border security bill in the history of America. The Senate hasn't taken it up. They could have taken it up. They could have amended it. It could have gone to a conference committee. That hasn't happened. Look, any immigration bill that seeks to solve the problem on the southern border will have some positive things. I think there were some asylum reforms in the bill that would have been positive, but fundamentally, it allowed up to 5,000 illegal immigrants to enter every single day. And that's totally unacceptable given the number that have already come in. But keep in mind, there's a reason why we are where we are three years into Joe Biden's presidency. It's because of the actions he's taken, the executive orders he's put in place, the Trump policies. He ended the message he sent to Central and South America that illegal immigration would not be taken seriously, that, in fact, there would be a moratorium in his first hundred days on catch and release or excuse me. On Return to Mexico, they ended title 42. They're not going to remain in Mexico anymore. I could go down a long list of things Biden has done that has brought this crisis to where it's at. 

Mike Warren: I mean, you know, do you think Biden would be going to the border if this were not a big political issue for him now? 

Ed Espinoza: I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that he's going down in the water. I should go down to the water because it is a big issue. And I know that, look, with all the policies that are happening right now and all the issues that are happening down there, a bipartisan border bill can do something. And look, Donald Trump tried a lot of things when he was president. And immigration still hit a 12-year-high in 2019. So there are so many issues that are happening down there. If you have a bill in front of you right now that Republicans can act, you can have an interim speaker of the House Patrick McHenry, was even lobbying his conference to support the bill until Donald Trump said not to, and only for political purposes. Let's put politics aside. Let's put country and national security before party, and let's pass a bill and make some progress. 

Mike Warren: Well, you know that we got to wrap it up. But it begs the question that all those senators in Washington, I mean, they all care about Ukraine money and Israel money in the border is just an afterthought. Schumer said it today. You know, Ukraine needs to go now. The border. We can work on that. So who knows? It goes on. We do know that. Ed, Matt, thank you both very much.