During his confirmation hearing last week, Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Tom Price insisted he would seek to defend Americans and would not back any political or religious efforts to impose immigration restrictions, and then, by the end of the same hearing, it emerged that Price had actively pursued the highly controversial executive action on immigration that eased the penalties on many immigrants by selectively deferring deportation proceedings.
Perhaps the largest question Price faces in his confirmation process concerns the issue of family members of American citizens under the Obama administration who may have been affected by the plan to temporarily extend deportation protections and extend work permits to some immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children. Americans are divided on this policy, with just 38 percent supporting the program as a whole, according to a Pew Research Center poll taken in late 2015, but about two-thirds in the same survey expressed support for a border wall to prevent immigrants from crossing into the country.
Those same citizens are quite split on the matter of same-sex marriage, with about equal proportions in favor and opposed. Republicans are against it by a 57 percent to 32 percent margin, while Democrats split evenly at 40 percent support versus 42 percent opposition.