A new poll released by The Wall Street Journal on Monday revealed that a majority of Americans still support President Trump’s policies on cracking down on illegal immigration, while also believing that law enforcement by public authorities should be done in moderation, without going overboard.
The poll found that slightly over half of voters approve of Trump’s handling of the issue of illegal immigration, with 62% of respondents supporting the deportation of illegal immigrants. However, voters are reserved about certain law enforcement methods.
In particular, two measures in large-scale deportation plans were met with disapproval. 58% of respondents opposed two measures: first, detaining and deporting individuals believed to be in the U.S. illegally without giving them a chance to see an immigration judge or have a hearing. The second measure was deporting illegal immigrants to other countries such as El Salvador and South Sudan, where they have no personal connections.
Slightly over half of Americans believe that the Trump administration’s actions of deporting illegal immigrants without providing evidence of illegal residence, disregarding court orders, and refusing to hold immigration hearings for them, are “overstepping.” Nearly 60% of independents said the government has gone too far.
Voters from different parties hold differing views on deportation plans. Approximately 90% of Republicans approve of the way the President is handling immigration and illegal immigration. However, 11% of Republican voters believe that Trump’s deportation actions are excessive or overstepping, a viewpoint held by around 90% of Democratic voters.
Three-quarters of Republicans support detention and deportation without allowing illegal immigrants to see a judge or participate in a court hearing, while 39% of all voters share this view.
Trump has reduced the number of individuals illegally crossing into the U.S. to unprecedented lows, part of his campaign promise. This has allowed the government to allocate more resources to fulfill its commitment, implementing the largest deportation action in U.S. history. A majority of voters also expressed support for this goal during the election period.
So far, in his first few months in office, Trump has deported over 140,000 illegal immigrants, potentially surpassing the total number deported in Obama’s first term. At that time, Obama set the record for the highest number of deportations of illegal immigrants in history.
Certain arrest strategies by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have sparked public attention and debate, including masked arrests, breaking car windows, and detaining individuals at court hearings.
Some illegal immigrants without criminal backgrounds have been reported being arrested, even though ICE claims they are targeting the “worst of the worst” among those illegally residing in the U.S.
The poll for The Wall Street Journal was conducted from July 16th to 20th with 1500 registered voters through mobile and landline phones, as well as text messages. The margin of error for the entire sample was plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.