Polls: Support Falling for Trump's Immigration Policies
Images of ski-masked agents are not helping
THE WEEK’S US BORDER NEWS IN BRIEF:
(note: The CBP says the photo above shows its agents arresting a registered sex offender and convicted felon who is in the country illegally)
In July 2024, 55% of surveyed Americans wanted immigration to be reduced, 53% supported building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and nearly half wanted all immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally to be deported, regardless of their work history and conduct while in the United States.
But now, less than seven months into Trump’s second term, a majority disapproves of his record on immigration, and overall attitudes about immigration have made a U-turn. Support for decreasing immigration has fallen by nearly half, to just 30%, and a record-high 79% now consider immigration to be good for the country.
NBC News reports that, in CNN’s mid-July poll, just 42% of adults approved of Trump's handling of immigration, while 45% of adults said the same in an early July Economist/YouGov poll, as did 41% in a late June Quinnipiac University poll.
The Brookings Institution has also looked at the changing polling numbers and found:
Americans believe that the administration has been moving too quickly—and making numerous mistakes by not being careful enough.
They disapprove of ICE agents wearing masks—and not wearing uniforms—during their raids.
They believe that immigrants should have the right to challenge their deportation in court, and they oppose deporting immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally to countries where they are not citizens.
DHS recruits for ICE through a “Defend the Homeland” Campaign
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is campaigning “to recruit brave and heroic Americans to join ICE as federal law enforcement agents and remove the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from America’s streets.” The agency is offering recruiting incentives including;
A maximum $50,000 signing bonus
Student loan repayment and forgiveness options
25% Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP) for HSI Special Agents
Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime (AUI) for Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) Deportation Officers
Enhanced retirement benefits
ICE says this Jamaican man was in the country illegally but was still found a job as a Police Officer in Maine (US Immigrations & Customs Enforcement photo)
ICE’s announcement of the arrest of an illegal alien serving as a local police officer made headlines in Maine and around the country, with everyone asking why he wasn’t properly screened? The city that hired him - it turns out - screened him through the Department of Homeland Security’s “E-Verify” program, and the DHS cleared him to work on May 12, 2025.
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin blamed the city for “reckless reliance” upon her agency’s own clearance process:
“The Old Orchard Beach Police Department’s reckless reliance on E-Verify to justify arming an illegal alien, Jon Luke Evans violates federal law, and does not absolve them of their failure to conduct basic background checks to verify legal status.” -DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin
FINALLY, IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
(Stories covered by US Border News during the past week)
US consumers & agriculture at risk
Cocaine smuggling hit hard by feds
July was a tough month for smugglers
Six-time Grammy Winner Remembered
Bonus video: Vintage performance by Flaco, Freddy Fender y Los Texas Tornados:
I am committed to delivering a US Border Newsletter that is not only educational and insightful but also engaging and easy to digest in five minutes or less.
(How am I doing? Let me know in the comments!)
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
Absolutely not true. How could we not want these awful criminals deported?
I would be very interested to hear your professional opinion on this subject, Jack; I'm sure many of your readers would.
While I have no way to determine the veracity of such polling numbers on popular support for deportation policy, there are several problematic issues that need to be addressed:
1. Is it really true that mainstream media is losing broad public trust? If so, then why do ICE raids that net harmless illegals generate more opprobrium than the violent attacks on ICE officers by "mostly peaceful" illegals and their domestic supporters?
2. How can ICE give the appearance of legitimacy without subjecting their officers to doxxing risk? Is doxxing as prevalent as the govt says? Could penalties for doxxing be increased to a point that will mostly eliminate the threat?
3. Is there a way to explain to the public that with 20-30 million illegals in America, individual trials are not possible? As some conservative commenters have opined, you entered without due process, you can be removed without due process.
4. I think the govt needs more rational explanation of why illegals are being deported to prisons in El Salvador, which is reminiscent of Guantanamo. Is that because their home countries won't take them back if they don't have proof of national origin? Or their home countries consider them a threat that they'd rather have removed to a politically expedient memory hole? I don't know if explaining all that would make people feel differently, but avoiding it is also a problem. So is Trump saying that maybe we could send some of our native-born criminals to El Salvador.
While it is obvious that it's much easier to sweep up low-hanging fruit in ICE raids [ag workers and migrants who show up for court hearings], it's not a good look.
So far the left has succeeded in dominating the narrative, but that should be countered in public forums. Why has Mayorkas not been forced to testify about his border policy before Congress? Why have sanctuary city mayors and their state governors not been made to explain why they're secretly spending tax revenues on harboring illegals, often providing them better services than natives and legal immigrants? Why isn't the govt working harder to document the links between politicians and the owners of hotels that are getting massive windfalls from housing illegals, and businesses that provide food and other services to these migrant hotels?
And perhaps most importantly, the opaque quangos that organize mass immigration here and in Europe, to the detriment of taxpayers who are unknowingly funding them...
Sorry, too many questions for a fine Sunday morning!