If a full background check is required for citizenship, 93 percent of undocumented Hispanics would find it acceptable, according to the findings of a recent Latino Decisions poll of undocumented Hispanics. The poll also found over 8 in 10 Latinos – 82 percent – would find it acceptable to be required to read, write and speak basic English in order to obtain eventual citizenship.

“The individuals whose voices have been absent are the immigrants themselves – so we decided to ask them,” said Stanford University professor and Latino Decisions principal Gary Segura. Over two-thirds of Latino undocumented immigrants – 67 percent – are optimistic about the passage of immigration reform this year, and 87 percent say they would pursue citizenship.

The myth that they are a community in isolation is not at all the case, said University of Washington associate professor and Latino Decisions principal Matt Barreto. “Ninety-five percent have at least one family member who is a U.S. citizen,” he explained. In addition, over two-thirds of Latino undocumented immigrants have been in the U.S. for over a decade, with 1 in 5 here over 20 years. Fifteen percent report owning their own homes and almost half own their own cars.

“The 8.6 million Latino undocumented immigrants have very deep roots in our nation’s neighborhoods,” said Rosalind Gold, Senior Director of Policy, Research and Advocacy for NALEO. “In our communities, they are making significant economic contributions, they are socially integrated, and want to continue on the path to becoming full Americans,” added Gold.

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The poll comes at a time when the Senate and the House are starting a vigorous debate on a set of comprehensive immigration reform proposals that would fundamentally change the nation’s immigration laws. Among the proposals put forth in a recently introduced Senate bill is a gradual, 13-year pathway to citizenship for the country’s approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants.

About eight out of ten of the nation’s undocumented are Hispanic, according to Pew Hispanic Center. The Republican National Committee (RNC) recently endorsed immigration reform as one of its principles, and four influential Republicans – Arizona Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake, South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham, Florida Senator Marco Rubio – drafted the Senate bill along with Democratic colleagues New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, Illinois New York Senator Richard Durbin, New York Senator Chuck Schumer and Colorado Senator Michael Bennet.

In addition, leading business and religious groups have endorsed reform, and the more conservative Wall Street Journal called immigration a potential economic “windfall” in a recent editorial.

Immigration reform advocates in the Senate will have their first Judiciary Committee hearing on the issue tomorrow – and they will face serious questions.

Already, Republican Senators like Texan Ted Cruz and Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions have come out against key portions of the Gang of Eight bill. Sessions says reform would result in “enormous” costs, largely in higher welfare and public benefits, even thought the bill specifically restricts immigrants on a legalization pathway from obtaining federal benefits. Sessions also called the pathway to citizenship “amnesty,” though Republicans like Rubio say the bill has six triggers regarding border security, employment requirements and strict exit controls for visitors before undocumented immigrants are allowed to start the path to legalization.

The debate over immigration reform comes at the heels of a stinging defeat for gun control advocates; the Senate failed to pass legislation favoring background checks for gun purchases. When asked whether immigration reform could face a similar defeat in the Senate, immigration advocate Frank Sharry, from the group America’s Voice, said he did not think so.

“The political power on immigration reform is what is driving it forward,” said Sharry.