AP-NORC Poll Finds Growing Support for Tougher Immigration Enforcement as Fewer Say Trump Has Gone T

An AP-NORC survey found 47% of respondents believe the Trump administration has gone too far in deporting immigrants living in the country illegally, down five points since February, while 18% now say the administration has not gone far enough.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

Public support for tougher immigration enforcement appears to be increasing, according to a new AP-NORC survey showing fewer Americans believe President Donald Trump has gone too far in deporting people living in the United States illegally, while a growing share says his administration should be doing more.

The new poll asked respondents whether the Trump administration had gone too far, had taken the right approach or had not gone far enough in its deportation policies. Forty-seven percent said the administration has “gone too far” by “deporting immigrants living in the US illegally,” a five-percentage-point decline from February. Another 32% said Trump’s approach was “about right,” unchanged from February, while 18% said the administration had not gone far enough, an increase of four points.

The survey also found movement toward tougher policies involving legal immigration. Fourteen percent of respondents said the administration needs to do more regarding legal migration as well, up three percentage points from February.

A similar shift appeared in attitudes toward the deployment of federal immigration agents into U.S. cities. Although a majority still said the administration has gone too far with those operations, the percentage expressing that view has declined since earlier in the year.

Breitbart summarized the findings this way: “There is also a decline in the number of Americans who believe the Trump administration has gone ‘too far’ in sending federal immigration agents into U.S. cities. While it is still a majority, 55 percent, who said the administration has gone too far, that is down from 62 percent who said the same in February. The percentage of those who said the administration has not gone far enough rose from ten percent to 15 percent in the same time frame.”

The change comes after months of intense national attention on immigration enforcement. Since the beginning of the year, the Department of Homeland Security has conducted a series of high-profile operations in cities including Minneapolis-St. Paul, generating extensive media coverage and political debate over the administration’s approach.

Taken together, the poll results show that opposition to Trump’s enforcement policies remains substantial, with pluralities or majorities still saying some administration actions have gone too far. At the same time, those shares have declined since February, while the percentages saying enforcement has not gone far enough have increased, indicating a measurable shift toward support for stronger immigration enforcement.