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After the ICE raids, a record number of Americans (79%) say immigration is a "good thing" for the US [1]
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Date: 2025-07-11
Since 2001, Gallup has been asking Americans if immigration is a good or bad thing for the country. A majority have always said it is a good thing — with a low approval of 52% in 2002. Note: that was the year after the foreign terrorist attacks on 9/11.
During Biden's term, driven by Trump's relentless attacks on immigration echoed by the MAGA mediasphere, approval fell from 77% (2020) to 64% (2024). However, things changed. Six months into Trump 2.0, 79% of Americans think immigration is a good thing — while only 17% think it is a bad thing.
The reason is apparent. Before Trump, immigrants were anonymous. Now Trump has unleashed his ICE bullies — masked up and armed to the teeth — on America's streets and farms. They have capriciously rounded up and incarcerated people who have committed no significant offense. The resulting publicity has allowed Americans to see these undocumented immigrants as individuals.
If Trump had stuck to his promise that he was only targeting the violent felons and the otherwise irredeemable, Americans, including Democrats, would have supported the effort, even if only tacitly. But he didn't. Instead, a stream of harmless and hardworking people, many in the country without comment for years, have been ejected without due process. They have become poster children for a fascistic overreach.
This greater appreciation of immigration transcends politics. Although Republicans are not as enthusiastic as Democrats about immigrants, the majority of the right also think immigration is a good thing. And their approval has sharply increased since Trump's inauguration.
Some MAGA deadenders have dismissed (caveat: Twitter link) the poll because it didn't differentiate between immigrants who are here legally and those here illegally. However, Gallup also asked people about the undocumented. They reported:
Yet, support is also lower today for deporting all undocumented immigrants, with 38% now favoring this as the administration is attempting it, down from 47% last year when it was a Trump campaign promise.
In addition, the number supporting:
Citizenship for the undocumented brought here as children increased 4% — to 85%.
A path to citizenship for all undocumented increased 8% — to 78%
On the other hand, support for
Hiring significantly more border agents decreased 17% — to 59%
Significantly expanding the border wall decreased 8% — to 45%
Deporting all undocumented aliens decreased 9% — to 38%
Lastly, in a new category, Americans were divided about whether alleged undocumented gang members should be allowed to challenge their deportation in court — with 50% saying 'No'. Note: How do you know if someone is undocumented and/or a gang member without due process?
One of Trump's most successful lies is that Democrats favor open borders and don't care who comes into the country. That's codswallop. Only libertarians true to the philosophy would subscribe to that. Democrats believe there should be a legal process for living and working in the US.
However, that process should be designed to welcome the strivers and the persecuted. Not to make them feel like criminals simply because they want to do jobs that Americans don't want to do, for the low wages that employers are willing to offer for grunt work.
These laborers aren’t taking American jobs. They aren't driving down citizens' salaries. And they do not take out more in benefits than they pay in taxes. They are one reason Americans can eat relatively cheap food and stay in relatively inexpensive hotels.
The percentage of their income that Americans spend on food has been declining for years, even with an uptick in prices as the country recovered from COVID.
People understand that if Trump expelled every, or even many, undocumented immigrants, that uptick would continue and be significantly larger.
Trump's incompetent and unpopular overreach has dealt Democratic candidates a lot of high cards. Now it's up to them to play those cards well in the midterms.
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