Nine months after President Donald Trump’s campaign of mass deportations began, a majority of registered voters in the United States continue to support the removal of immigrants living in the country without authorization. However, it also considers that the way the government conducts the process has been unfair and, in many cases, excessive.
According to research by The New York Times in partnership with Siena University, 54% of respondents support the deportation of illegal immigrants. Among Republicans, support reaches more than 90%, while 52% of independents and around 20% of Democrats also agree with the measure.
Despite this, 53% say the process is not fair and 51% believe that Trump went too far in applying immigration policies. Videos and news reports show federal agents detaining immigrants in courthouses, workplaces and even in front of their homes, including people with U.S.-born children and U.S. citizens of Latino origin.
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Since returning to the White House, Trump has implemented a new immigration ban, removed temporary humanitarian protections from hundreds of thousands of people and intensified operations in cities such as Chicago and Washington, DC. There are records of deportations to countries that are not the immigrants’ origin.
The survey reveals a group of around 15% of voters who are experiencing a dilemma: they support the idea of deporting those who are in the country illegally, but consider the way the government carries out the actions to be unfair. Many criticize the lack of opportunity for immigrants to present documents or defend their cases in court.
The debate takes place in the midst of an overloaded migration system. The US Citizenship and Immigration Service has more than 11 million pending cases, the highest number in at least a decade. The difficulty of obtaining a visa or citizenship, added to the cost and bureaucracy, fuels criticism that the system has been “broken” for decades.
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Despite the divisions, polls like Gallup’s show that the majority of Americans still see immigration as a positive thing. However, the country is divided on whether it remains “open” to immigrants: 48% say yes, while 49% disagree.
