Americans overwhelmingly
trust Donald Trump more than
President Biden on immigration,
polls show. This might be unsurprising, since the southern border is overwhelmed and Trump has made immigration the centerpiece of all his presidential campaigns.
But it’s also kind of astonishing. Most of what Trump actually plans to
do about immigration in a second term is unpopular.
Myths and misinformation about immigrants (whether legal or undocumented) abound, including whether they’re more likely to commit crimes (
they’re not). Or whether immigrants hurt the economy (they don’t; they are
net-positive contributors to
the economy and
federal budgets). Such misunderstandings are one reason I write about immigration: If Americans had better information, they might be more likely to see immigration’s benefits for America’s finances, national security and moral standing in the world.
But even I recognize that’s a tall order. Voters are busy; learning the ins and outs of the immigration system requires bandwidth most people lack. You know what should be an easier lift for those of us in the media, though? Simply telling Americans what Trump’s immigration policies are, and then asking them to evaluate whether those policies match the
views Americans already hold.
We already have a good sense of Trump’s likely immigration agenda from recent speeches, previous administration actions and
Project 2025 documents (co-written by Trump aides and widely viewed as the policy playbook for a second Trump term). On lots of major policies, polling is not in his favor. For example:
1. Terminating legal status for so-called dreamers.
Polling shows that
most Americans — even
most Republicans and
Trump supporters! — believe undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children should be allowed to remain here and apply for permanent legal status.
Trump has sometimes said that he has a “
great heart” for these particular immigrants, nicknamed “dreamers.” But always pay more attention to what politicians do than to what they say.
As president, Trump
repeatedly tried to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which temporarily shields dreamers from deportation and allows them to work. His efforts
were stopped by the Supreme Court — before his final high-court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, was confirmed. DACA is expected to
return to the Supreme Court soon.
In the meantime, Trump in a second term would
effectively end the program administratively, by prohibiting government employees from reviewing and processing renewal applications, according to Project 2025.
2. Family separations.
The Trump administration program systematically took asylum-seeking children from their parents, with no tracking process that would allow them to be reunited. The policy was
widely condemned, even by members of his own party.
In fact, it was historically unpopular, faring worse in polls than any major bill of the past 30 years, as George Washington University professor Chris Warshaw
has shown.
Even today, our country has not made all these families whole, and the
moral stain remains. Nonetheless, Trump has recently
defended the policy and
refuses to rule out reviving it.
3. Militarized mass-detention camps.
Trump wants to deploy the military to round up migrants and
place them in detention camps and has publicly pledged to use the
Alien Enemies Act for this purpose. This wartime measure, part of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, was previously invoked for mass imprisonment of Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals during World War II.
One recent survey addressed a version of this policy (Agree/disagree: “Illegal immigrants should be arrested and put in detention camps while awaiting deportation hearings”). Respondents were divided, with neither “agree” nor “disagree” claiming a majority. This question wording left out some important details of the design, so perhaps more specific language would be useful in assessing levels of support (or moral revulsion).
