The people at Pew have a new poll about African-American views on illegal and legal immigrration and even breaks it down by region, including Chicago.

In Chicago, where 80% of blacks say jobs are difficult to find, there is a widespread perception among African Americans that immigrant workers are damaging local job prospects. Fully 41% of African Americans say they or a family member have lost a job, or not gotten a job, because an employer hired an illegal immigrant instead. That is nearly double the number of blacks nationally who say this (22%), and almost triple the number of Chicago-area whites (15%) who say an immigrant worker has cost them or a family member a job.

Nearly half of Chicago-area African Americans (46%) favor decreasing the level of legal immigration into the U.S. This percentage is significantly greater than the fraction of blacks nationally expressing this opinion (34%). On most other immigration issues, however, blacks in Chicago have attitudes similar to those of blacks in the national public. For instance, fewer than half (45%) think that illegal immigrants should be required to return home, which mirrors the opinions of blacks nationally (47%), and is a bit lower than the percentage of Chicago-area whites (54%) who favor requiring all illegal immigrants to leave the country.

Meanwhile, the Tribune has a story on the issue’s impact on Republicans and Topinka expresses concerns about today’s planned protests.

Also Sunday, while Topinka said she supports the right of demonstrators to participate in a massive Chicago march promoting immigration reform on Monday, she worries that emotions are clouding the debate.

“I hope I won’t see a lot of foreign flags floating around or versions of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ that are not in English because it just highlights the emotionalism of what is a very complicated problem,” she said. “That just aggravates it, makes it worse, and ultimately keeps people from coming together to come up with an answer.”