The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) conducted an extensive survey on its member’s perspectives regarding immigration.  The thirty-three question survey was split into four primary sections: current labor markets, the bureaucracy of working in the US , legal immigration and undocumented immigration.

In the first section, NFIB members were evenly split and balanced on the role of immigrants in the current labor market.  When questioned about the impact of immigrants on the labor market, 27 percent of those polled answered that immigrants had a positive effect on the market, 26 percent said that immigrants had a negative effect and 28 percent said that immigrants had no effect.  A similar distribution was recorded for the overall impact immigrants had on an area. 

The second section of the poll revealed that a vast majority of NFIB members did not believe that the US should admit more immigrants than they already do, with just over 14 percent answering that too few immigrants are admitted each year.  Despite that response, a majority of those polled supported a guest-worker program and finding labor abroad when a government agency determines a class of workers to be needed.

Only a few NFIB members admitted to hiring immigrant laborers—around 21 percent.  Slightly more than five percent of polled individuals have ever been requested to produce an I-9 form by a government agency.  When questioned about potential ways to identify whether a foreign laborer is or is not eligible for work, a majority answered that the proposed methods would not be a burden.

The final section, which focuses on undocumented immigration, shows a clear concern over the level of undocumented immigration in the country.  The results revealed that only about 8 percent of NFIB members felt that undocumented immigration was not a problem in the US while over fifty percent answered that undocumented immigration was a “very serious problem.”  In the same line of thinking, only fourteen percent of those polled believed that undocumented immigration should not have a high priority for the president and congress.

The poll showed mixed feelings regarding legalization of undocumented immigrants. Members were split on the question of granting legalization if an immigrant is employed and receives no government aide.