Poll respondents: Don’t give illegal immigrants scholarships

Most Nevadans believe that undocumented immigrants should not be eligible for the Millennium Scholarship, according to a poll commissioned by the Review-Journal.

The poll also found that a majority think ballots should be printed only in English and businesses should be fined or cited for employing undocumented workers.

"These questions hit a nerve," said Brad Coker, managing partner of Washington, D.C.'s Mason-Dixon Polling & Research firm that conducted the April 30 through May 1 poll. "There's not a whole lot to say when you've got over 70 percent responding" the same way.

The telephone poll of 625 registered voters found that 72 percent of Nevadans believe illegal immigrants who graduate from Nevada high schools should not be allowed to receive the Millennium Scholarship. Seventy-seven percent feel that ballots and state documents should not be printed in languages other than English. And 81 percent said Nevada businesses should be cited and fined for employing illegal aliens.

The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Immigration reform activists and Hispanic leaders challenged the poll's results.

"There is a way to skew things (with polls)," said Fernando Romero, president of Hispanics in Politics. "I don't think the poll reflects the diversity of the community."

The results paralleled an August 2006 Review-Journal poll, which found 77 percent of voters statewide were opposed to providing in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants, while 19 percent supported it. Among Hispanic voters, 52 percent opposed providing the tuition benefit to noncitizens and 46 percent supported it.

Of the more recent survey, Coker said about 10 percent of those polled were Hispanic, and the margin of error among that group is higher: plus or minus 12 percentage points.

Hispanics comprise about 25 percent of Nevada's population.

Among Hispanics polled, 57 percent said illegal immigrants should be allowed to receive the Millennium Scholarship, Coker said. Sixty-four percent said that businesses should be cited for employing illegal immigrants.

Hispanic respondents were split on the issue of printing ballots in languages other than English, with 48 percent saying ballots should be printed in other languages and 47 percent saying they shouldn't.

Romero pointed out that the printing of ballots in other languages is protected by the federal Voting Rights Act.

The poll respondents "are disagreeing with federal law," he said, adding that if the Voting Rights Act had been mentioned in the poll's question, the answers may have been different.

But, Coker said, "there's legal opinion and there's public opinion."

When asked what is the most important issue that the Legislature should address this session, "Illegal immigration" was the second-most-popular answer. Education and teacher pay was the most popular.

The Legislature is considering two bills that deal with noncitizens' eligibility for the Millennium Scholarship and a third measure to make English the official language of Nevada.

Sen. Joe Heck, R-Henderson, introduced Senate Bill 415, which would make any state financial aid offered by the Nevada System of Higher Education off limits to illegal residents of Nevada.

He said he was not surprised by poll results showing a majority of Nevadans don't want the Millennium Scholarship to go to students who are in the country illegally.

"It's not a fringe issue," he said.

Heck said he proposed the bill to bring Nevada in line with federal law.

"Illegals can't get federal student aid," he said.

Romero said that disallowing undocumented immigrants from obtaining the Millennium Scholarship is "closing the door on the future of our children."

He also said business owners should not be responsible for enforcing immigration laws.

"Employers are not immigration officials," he said.

Iris Contreras, a community organizer for the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, agreed and said poll respondents were expressing "anti-immigrant" sentiments.

"I always say the people who have time to answer these questions ... probably don't work or are retired," she said. "They are more likely to have these anti-immigrant feelings."

The alliance recently released a report stating that immigrants, both legal and illegal, contribute millions of dollars to the Nevada economy and make up an inextricable part of the work force.

The Legislature is also considering a bill that would allow the state Tax Commission to pull the business licenses of companies that hire undocumented workers. That would not occur, however, until Congress passes legislation on illegal immigration.