TUPELO, Miss.—Border security and immigration are important matters to many Americans, as evidenced by the fact that nearly 20,000 responded to a new American Family Association (AFA, www.afa.net) survey on these topics in just a few hours.

In all, 34,514 respondents weighed in for the three-question AFA survey that ended Friday afternoon. The purpose of the survey was to identify the interest of AFA supporters on the issue of border security and to gauge the level of support they had for President Donald Trump’s plan for border security.

“Building a wall on the U.S. southern border was a signature campaign promise of then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump,” said AFA President Tim Wildmon. “His strong stance on border security was one of the main reasons he was catapulted into the presidency. Despite a partial government shutdown, President Trump is maintaining a firm resolve to secure government funding to build the wall. Democrats in Congress seem determined in their resolve to obstruct the very agenda that put the president in the White House and are refusing to allocate funds for a border wall. Congressional Republicans are standing with the president. President Trump and Republican leadership say a wall is a necessary, first defense against sex trafficking, as well as preventing illegal drugs and violent criminals from entering the country.”

In the first three and a half hours the survey was live, over 18,000 responded. By the time the survey closed, some important findings were uncovered.

First, nearly all respondents (96%) said they support President Trump’s plan for a physical barrier at the southern border. A very small number of respondents (3%) opposed the president’s plan. Respondents having no opinion on the president’s plan were few (1%).

“The most startling statistic is that an overwhelming majority (90%) of those we polled want President Trump to continue the partial government shutdown to force Congress to fund construction for the border wall,” Wildmon said. “Clearly, this group of vocal citizens is sending a loud-and-clear message to lawmakers in Washington.”

The survey consisted of the following questions:

Is border security an important issue to you?
(99% responded yes, 1% responded no)
Do you support President Trump’s plan for a physical barrier at the southern border?
(96% yes, 3% no, 1% no opinion)

President Trump should compromise on his planned border wall to end a government shutdown.
(6% yes, 90% no, 4% no opinion)

Also, according to the survey, “Republican advocates for a physical wall point to the Laredo Sector of the United States Border in Laredo, Texas. This area has over 150 miles without a constructed barrier between the U.S. and Mexico. Democratic opponents of a physical wall say the Rio Grande river is a sufficient, natural barrier. Therefore, they say no wall is necessary. They say border monitoring technology is a better solution to prevent illegal aliens from crossing the southern border into the U.S. On the other hand, President Trump and Republican leadership say a wall is a necessary, first defense against sex trafficking, as well as preventing illegal drugs and violent criminals from entering the country.”

AFA added that in Fiscal Year 2018, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported the arrest of 17,000 individuals with criminal records. The CBP apprehends about 21 wanted criminals every day at the southern border. For those illegal aliens already in the country, ICE officers arrested 266,000 aliens with criminal records over the past two years. These arrests included those charged or convicted of 100,000 assaults and nearly 30,000 sex crimes.

For more information on American Family Association, visit www.afa.net or follow AFA on Facebook or on Twitter @AmericanFamAssc. Read more about AFA.

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To interview a representative from American Family Association, contact Hamilton Strategies, [email protected], 610.584.1096, ext. 105, or Jeff Tolson, ext. 108.