By Callie Patteson New York Post

A plurality of Americans believe the level of immigration into the US should be decreased, according to a new Gallup poll — the first time the survey has shown that in eight years.

The poll found that 38% of Americans want less immigration, while 27% said they want more. Another 31% said they want immigration to remain at its current level.

The last time more Americans wanted immigration reduced was in 2014, when 41% held that opinion, 33% said they wanted present levels maintained, and just 22% said they wanted immigration levels increased.

This year’s numbers are almost a mirror image of 2020, when 28% of Americans said they wanted to see immigration levels decreased — matching the low-water mark for that point of view. In the same poll, 36% said they wanted immigration to stay at current levels and 34% said they wanted increased immigration.

The change in attitudes comes as nationwide encounters of migrants have more than quadrupled in the US over the last two years. On the southern border alone, Customs and Border Protection has already reported the highest number of migrant encounters in a fiscal year since 1960 after recording 207,416 stops in June.

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