Poll: Vast Majority Of Undocumented Immigrants Have Connection To Citizens

By Eyder Peralta

Published April 15, 2013 at 1:17 PM CDT

Maglena Gomez waves an American flag as she and others participate in a march that organizers said was an attempt to get the U.S. Congress to say yes to immigration reform on April 6, 2013 in Miami, Florida.

A vast majority of undocumented Latino immigrants (85 percent) have family connections to U.S. citizens, a new poll finds.

Latino Decisions, which conducted the survey on behalf of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund and America's Voice Education Fund, said the poll results paint "a portrait of a community that is very integrated into the American fabric, and hopeful of a chance to gain legal status and ultimately citizenship."

Latino Decision polled 400 Latino adult immigrants who said they were in the country without authorization. It has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.

Here are a few more of the highlights:

-- 62 percent of undocumented immigrants have a U.S. born child.

-- 13 percent said their spouse is a citizen.

-- 38 percent said they came to the U.S. for a better life for their family or children. Thirty-nine percent said they came here for a better jobs and opportunity.

-- 95 percent of those polled said they had "at least one other family member in the U.S."

-- 87 percent said they would become a U.S. citizen if Congress passed a law allowing them to apply.

On that note, a bipartisan group of senators is scheduled to unveil a immigration reform bill on Tuesday. There was supposed to be a hearing on the issue in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, but that has been delayed until Friday.