The number of U.S.-born Latinos who are against undocumented immigrants receiving driver’s licenses had dramatically increased.

That was one of the findings of the survey conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center, which revealed a division in the Hispanic community when dealing with issues related to undocumented immigrants.

According to the survey, “Attitudes toward Immigrants and Immigration Policy,” 60 percent of U.S.-born Latinos are in favor of laws that prohibit undocumented immigrants from getting driver’s licenses, compared with the 66 percent of Latinos that were born outside the United States, who disapprove such legislative measures.

Latinos also have different views on whether immigrants’ work and talents benefit the nation’s economy. While 89 percent of Latinos who were not born here think that immigration strengthens economic development, only 65 percent U.S.-born Latinos agree.

When pulled about the cheap manual labor provided by undocumented workers, a division of opinion was again apparent, with 34 percent of those U.S.-born Latinos thought that it could be detrimental to the nation’s economy, while only 15 percent of foreign-born Latinos agreed.

“Among the Latinos from the United States, there’s a majority that has a favorable opinion of the immigrants. But there’s a significant minority concerned about unauthorized immigration and the impact that it can have,” said Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center.

The survey also showed that a majority of Hispanics (56 percent) is in favor of the creation of temporary workers program that would permit 11 million undocumented immigrants to work. However, 35 percent of the Hispanics are against it.

Analyst Maricela Garcia believes that the U.S.-born Latinos’ lack of support for undocumented immigrants stems from a lack in economic and immigration policies. “They see the undocumented workers as a threat because they work at jobs that are not regulated,” she said.

For pro-immigrant organizations, the new study which involved 1,001 Hispanic adults nationally in June, is an alert to politicians, on the need to define the future for undocumented immigrants and the creation of new immigration laws.

“Even though the results do not surprise us, they reflect the frustration in the population about the deficiency of migratory policies,” said Michele Waslin, of the National Council of La Raza, adding that the organization hopes that this fall Congress will renew the dialogue regarding the proposals for migratory reform.

La Raza favors a legislation that opens the path to citizenship for undocumented workers and the creation of new legal channels for the entry of immigrants to the United States.

Mexicans want to emigrate

In two separate polls of the Mexican community conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center, findings reveal that four of every 10 Mexican adults want to come to the United States, if they had the chance to do it. Also, two of every 10 Mexicans would not mind living and working as undocumented immigrants in the United States.

Both polls included 1,200 respondents from various sectors of Mexican community, including middle class citizens and professionals.