Most Americans call illegal immigration 'very serious problem,' poll finds

A majority of Americans now support building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a Monmouth University poll released Monday.

The poll found that 61% of Americans say illegal immigration is a "very serious problem" leading into the 2024 election cycle.

"Illegal immigration has taken center stage as a defining issue this presidential election year. Other Monmouth polling found this to be [President] Biden’s weakest policy area, including among his fellow Democrats," said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.

Similarly, 61% of Americans say immigrants seeking political asylum at the border should be made to stay in Mexico while their claims are processed. Just 35% say they should be allowed into the U.S. while they wait, according to the poll.

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A majority of Americans now support building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a Monmouth University poll released Monday.

Meanwhile, 53% of participants said they support building a wall at the southern border, while just 46% oppose it. 

It is the first time a majority of Americans have supported a border wall since Monmouth began polling the issue in 2015, although the poll has a margin of error of 4.1%.

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Monmouth conducted its poll via telephone, surveying 902 U.S. adults from Feb. 9-12. 

Last week, another Monmouth poll found that Biden's approval rating on immigration sits at just 26%. When broken down by party affiliation, slightly over half of Democrats (54%) said they approved of Biden's handling of immigration, but just 21% of independents and 2% of Republicans said the same.

Last week, a Monmouth poll found that Biden's approval rating on immigration sits at just 26%. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden and former President Trump will hold competing trips to the U.S.-Mexico border this week. Biden will speak with U.S. Border Patrol agents in Brownsville, Texas, while Trump delivers a speech in Eagle Pass, Texas.

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Biden is expected to use his trip to talk about the importance of passing the Senate's bipartisan border security agreement, a White House official said, adding that the president will "reiterate his calls for Congressional Republicans to stop playing politics and to provide the funding needed for additional U.S. Border Patrol agents, more asylum officers, fentanyl detection technology and more."

Monday's poll from Monmouth found that nearly half of Americans, 47%, say Biden's bill does not go far enough, however. Another 28% say the bill is about right, while 12% said it is too tough.

Multiple polls have found that Trump is far more popular than Biden when it comes to the border. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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U.S. Customs and Border Protection sources told Fox News this month that the majority of illegal crossings are shifting away from Texas to Arizona and California, where there is less deterrence.