February 06, 2018 01:01 PM UTC

Poll: Americans Don't Think Immigrants are Scary

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• by: Colorado Pols

President Trump on Tuesday said that he would “love to see a shutdown” if Congress cannot work out what Trump says are needed funds for border security as the President increasingly tries to tie the immigration issue to violent criminals (such as the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gang from El Salvador).

But according to results from a new Quinnipiac poll, Americans do not buy into the scary rhetoric on immigrants that has been emanating from the White House. From The Hill:

Most Americans do not believe that undocumented immigrants commit more crimes than U.S. citizens, a poll released Tuesday found.

The Quinnipiac University poll found that 72 percent of Americans don’t think illegal immigrants commit more crimes than citizens, despite arguments to the contrary from President Trump and some Republicans.

Thirteen percent of Americans believe undocumented immigrants do commit more crimes than citizens, the poll found.

In addition, 63 percent of respondents said they don’t think illegal immigrants take away jobs from citizens, compared to 33 percent who think that is the case.

During an event at the White House focused on MS-13 today, Trump said, “not another country in the world has the stupidity of laws that we do when it comes to immigration.”