What Americans think about Trump’s immigration actions early in his second term

Since returning to the White House on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump has focused many executive actions on immigration, including increased efforts to deport immigrants who are living in the United States illegally. About half of Americans (47%) say the administration is doing “about the right amount” on deportations, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. However, almost as many (44%) say the administration is doing “too much” to remove immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. A much smaller group (8%) says Trump is doing “too little.”

How we did this

Pew Research Center conducted this survey to assess Americans’ views of the Trump administration’s actions on immigration early in his second term. We surveyed 5,086 U.S. adults from Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, 2025.

Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), a group of people recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses who have agreed to take surveys regularly. This kind of recruitment gives nearly all U.S. adults a chance of selection. Surveys were conducted either online or by telephone with a live interviewer. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other factors. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.

Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and its methodology.

There is widespread public support for the ramp-up of deportations. A majority of Americans also approve of an increased military presence at the U.S.-Mexico border, which is another component of Trump’s executive actions.

• 59% of U.S. adults say they approve of Trump increasing efforts to deport people who are living in the U.S. illegally, including 35% who strongly approve.
• 58% approve of sending additional military forces to the U.S.-Mexico border, with 35% saying they strongly approve of this.

Two other components of Trump’s executive orders are less popular with the public:

• 47% approve of Trump’s plans to cut federal funds to cities and states if they do not help federal deportation efforts. Another 52% disapprove of this.
• 44% approve of the administration suspending asylum applications from people seeking to live in the U.S, while 55% disapprove.

Related: Public Anticipates Changes With Trump but Is Split Over Whether They Will Be Good or Bad

Partisan views of the Trump administration’s immigration policies

There are wide partisan differences in views of how much the Trump administration is doing to deport immigrants living in the U.S. illegally:

• 74% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say the Trump administration is doing the right amount to deport immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. Another 12% say it’s doing too little and 13% say it’s doing too much.
• By comparison, 73% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say the administration is doing too much on deportations, 21% say the administration’s approach is about right, and just 4% say it’s doing too little.

Republicans and Democrats are also deeply divided over Trump’s broader immigration agenda.

Republicans widely approve of Trump’s immigration actions.

• Nearly nine-in-ten Republicans approve of sending additional U.S. troops to the border (88%) and increasing deportations (86%). More than six-in-ten strongly approve of these actions.
• 80% of Republicans approve of cutting federal funds to cities and states if they do not cooperate with deportations, including 54% who strongly approve.
• 72% of Republicans approve of suspending asylum applications, with 38% saying they strongly approve.

Democrats generally disapprove of the administration’s immigration policies. But some are less popular than others:

• 33% of Democrats approve of increasing deportations.
• 30% approve of sending additional military forces to the border.
• 18% approve of suspending asylum applications.
• 16% approve of cutting federal funds for cities and states if they do not help federal deportation efforts.

How racial and ethnic groups view the Trump administration’s immigration efforts

White adults are generally more supportive of Trump’s immigration actions than adults in other racial and ethnic groups. Black adults are the least likely to support the administration’s efforts. And approval among Asian Americans tends to be higher than among Hispanic adults. Yet there are wide partisan gaps within racial and ethnic groups that largely parallel overall partisan divides.

Looking across racial and ethnic groups, majorities of Republicans approve of Trump’s immigration actions, while majorities of Democrats do not. Still, there are some differences:

• Roughly nine-in-ten White Republicans approve of increasing federal deportation efforts (91%) and increasing the military presence on the border (92%).
• Among Hispanic Republicans, approval falls to 69% for increasing deportations and 75% for sending additional troops to the border.

White Republicans are also more likely than Hispanics in the GOP to approve of cutting federal funding for cities and states if they do not help with deportations. The gap in approval between White and Hispanic Republicans is somewhat smaller when it comes to Trump suspending asylum applications.

Asian Republicans’ views of each of these actions generally fall between those of White and Hispanic Republicans. There were not enough Black Republicans to analyze their views separately.

Clear majorities of Democrats across racial and ethnic groups disapprove of Trump’s actions on immigration. But Asian (43%) and Black (40%) Democrats are more likely than White (32%) and Hispanic (27%) Democrats to say they approve of Trump’s increased efforts to deport immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally.

Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and its methodology.