How Americans view key Trump administration immigration policies

By Andrew Daniller and J. Baxter Oliphant

Table of Contents

About this research

This Pew Research Center analysis is part of a broader project that examines Americans’ views of immigration policy, immigration officers’ actions and the public’s response to immigration enforcement.

Why did we do this?

Pew Research Center conducts research to help the public, media and decision-makers understand important topics. We have studied Americans’ views of politics and major policy issues, including immigration, for decades.

Learn more about Pew Research Center.

How did we do this?

We surveyed 8,512 U.S. adults from Jan. 20 to 26, 2026. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel. The survey represents the views of the full U.S. adult population.

Here are the survey questions used for this analysis, the detailed responses and the survey methodology.

President Donald Trump has moved to make sweeping changes to the U.S. immigration system, but public views of his policies and proposals in this area vary.

Chart shows Many Americans favor troops at U.S.-Mexico border, but far fewer support pausing visa and asylum applications, keeping large numbers of people in detention centers

Several of the administration’s most restrictive policies face substantial opposition from the public, while others receive widespread support.

According to a new Pew Research Center survey of 8,512 U.S. adults conducted Jan. 20-26, 2026, a majority of Americans favor:

Maintaining a large military presence at the U.S.-Mexico border (62%)
Requiring people who want to enter the U.S. to let immigration officers review their social media accounts (56%)

But the survey also finds that most Americans oppose:

Giving immigration priority to people if they pay a $1 million fee (79% oppose, including 60% who strongly oppose)
Suspending all applications for asylum (66% oppose)
Keeping large numbers of immigrants in detention centers while their cases are decided (64%)
Pausing immigration visa applications from people in 75 countries (60%)

How Republicans and Democrats view these policies

There are wide partisan gaps on many immigration proposals and actions from the Trump administration. But majorities of both Republicans and Democrats oppose giving people priority status in the immigration process for a $1 million fee.

Republican support for the immigration actions we asked about varies – but majorities support most of them.

Chart shows Deep partisan gaps on several Trump administration immigration policies, but opposition to priority access for $1 million fee is widespread in both parties

Large majorities of Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party favor a strong military presence on the border with Mexico (89%) and requiring people wanting to enter the U.S. to let immigration officers review their social media accounts (79%).

Republicans are about evenly split over suspending asylum applications (51% favor, 47% oppose).

By about two-to-one, Republicans oppose giving people priority in the immigration process if they pay a $1 million fee: 67% oppose, while 32% favor this.

Most Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents oppose each of these actions, though to different degrees.

A third or more support maintaining a large military presence on the border with Mexico (37%) and requiring people who want to come to the U.S. to make their social media accessible to immigration officers (36%). The other actions are supported by fewer than 20% of Democrats.