There are more Californians who want young border crossers from Latin America to stay than who want them to go.

But remember that, earlier this year, Latinos took over as the largest ethnic group in the state. When you break down the numbers, the Golden State doesn't appear to be that sympathetic to the plight of undocumented children, many of whom have been crossing the border illegally after trekking north from violence-plagued parts of Central America.

According to the latest USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences/Los Angeles Times Poll numbers, released today, …

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 … if you isolate just the self-proclaimed white folks of California, 51 percent say those immigrants should be sent home ASAP.

Forty-four percent said they should stay and let their asylum cases work their way through the courts, USC says.

Overall, 48 percent of Californians said they should be allowed to stay and 46 percent said they should go, according to the poll.

Latinos were big supporters of giving these kids a chance to get a foothold in the United States, with 66 percent in favor of that and only about 1 in 4, or 26 percent, opposed, says USC.

However, before you start screaming at whitey for being cold and uncaring, consider that nearly 3 out of 4 (73 percent) of California voters overall said they are behind “proposed legislation that would create a path to citizenship for those already in the country illegally,” says the university.

Those folks said border security (which has already been turned up to unprecedented levels under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama) and employer verification of workers' status (already the law) should be a part of any such legislation.


Twenty-one percent are opposed to such immigration reform, according to the poll. 

Nearly three-fourths of us (72 percent) say illegal immigration is a crisis or major issue, while 26 percent say it isn't, USC says. Two-thirds of Latinos say it's a crisis or major problem.

David Kanevsky, vice president of Republican polling firm American Viewpoint, probably explained California's mixed feelings best:

Voters are compassionate to those already here, but they are not open border advocates. What they don’t want to do is have solutions that encourage more of the same problem.

Pollsters questioned 1,507 registered voters in California, and the results have a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percentage points, says USC.

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