Just two in 10 Americans think Obama should act alone to reform the immigration system, poll finds

The majority of Republicans, Independents and even Democrats think he should work with Congress to make changes to immigration policy

Only 22 percent of respondents said the government should relocate illegal children to communities across the nation rather than send them home

Nearly two-thirds of all Americans think Obama is mishandling immigration



The vast majority of Americans think President Barack Obama should not go around Congress to make changes to immigration policy, a new poll shows.

President Obama has promised to act on immigration by the end of the summer, regardless of Congress' progress on legislative reforms.



But a survey released today by the polling company, inc./Woman Trend shows that just two in 10 Americans think Obama should bypass the deliberative body and go it alone. A resounding 74 percent said the president ought to work with Congress to repair the system.



Even the majority of Democrats - 56 percent - said Obama should not take executive action.



Teamwork: The vast majority of Americans think Obama should wait for Congress to act on immigration reform rather than take matters into his own hands

Even the majority of Democrats want Obama to play nice with Congress on the issue of immigration

N early two-thirds of likely voters said they also disagreed with the way Obama was handling immigration in general, including 55 percent Hispanics who were polled.

Congress is currently out of session, and members are not slated to return to Capitol Hill until the second week of September

On the table when Congress left for its annual August recess were two immigration bills: one that would change a law that prevents the U.S. from sending immigrant children from Central America home immediately while giving agencies that handle immigration slightly more funding and another that would stop the president from using executive orders to provide amnesty to groups of illegal immigrants.



Both bills passed in the Republican-led House after the Senate had already left town. Neither bill has a chance of making it to the Democratic-controlled Senate floor when lawmakers return, however.

More than a year ago the Senate passed legislation that would make sweeping changes to U.S. immigration policies. However, House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, has unequivocally said he will not allow the bill to come his chamber's floor.



Boehner and the bulk of the Republican caucus in the House prefer a step-by-step approach to immigration reform.

With the two legislative bodies unable to agree on how to fix the ailing immigration system, immigration reform is largely at a standstill unless the president makes good on his threat.

Among the actions Obama is considering is providing work visas to the parents and guardians of children who are legal U.S. residents. The president also wants to expand his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, first established in 2012, that allows illegal aliens who were brought to the U.S. as children to stay in the country indefinitely.



Republicans blame that policy for the flood of immigrant children who have shown up at the U.S.' southern border in the 10 months.



Already, more than 57,000 unaccompanied immigrant children, many of whom are Central American, have come to the U.S. border expecting amnesty since the end of the last fiscal year. As many as 90,000 could arrive in the U.S. before October, government officials say.

As the law is currently written, only children from Mexico and Canada who come to the U.S. illegally can be sent home immediately. Children arriving from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras must be processed by three federal agencies and given court dates before they can be returned to their home countries.

Likely voters also think the government should send illegal immigrant children back home

Only 22 percent of Americans think the government should relocate illegal immigrant children pouring over the United States' southern border to communities across the nation

Republicans - and the Obama administration - would like to see changes to the law to allow Central American children to be deported more quickly.



Today's the polling, inc. survey suggests that most Americans would support those reforms.

Two-thirds of respondents said the government should send unaccompanied minors 'back to their home countries to convince stop sending their children here.'

A mere 22 percent said the government should 'relocate them to communities across the United States to provide them safe shelter.'

The Republican aligned polling firm also found that the majority of people of all political persuasions support both of House Republicans' immigration bills.

An overwhelming number of respondents to the survey also said they did not think that immigrants who wrongly enter the country should be given legal status.

A concern of many survey-takers was job security and the threat that illegal immigrants would take jobs away from low-wage American workers.