Most Americans strongly oppose the mass deportation uglinesses terrorizing their communities and neighbors. Lawmakers should remember that amid the reconciliation fight
Congressional Republicans and the White House continue to careen forward with plans to seize more than $70 billion of your hard-earned money to ensure that Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s mass deportation obsessions rage on. But not only do ICE and CBP not need billions more in cash – they already got beaucoup bucks thanks to last year’s big, ugly $170 billion budget – their demands fly in the face of mainstream public opinion. Americans simply don’t like what they’re seeing playing out in their neighborhoods – and they want their leaders to do something about it.
TRUMP’S SUPPORT ON HIS SIGNATURE ISSUE HAS COLLAPSED – AND AMERICANS DON’T LIKE HIS OTHER PRIORITIES EITHER
Trump launched his 2016 presidential run on the backs of immigrants, slandering them as criminals, drug dealers, and “rapists” (despite his businesses employing plenty of these community members – but that’s another story). Now, a decade later, Trump’s perceived strength has become a weakness, with one NBC News Decision Desk poll showing support for his immigration policies continuing to fall precipitously after federal immigration agents’ brutal killing of an ICU nurse on January 24.
“Fully 60% of those surveyed in the week after the death of Alex Pretti in Minnesota somewhat or strongly disapproved of Trump’s actions on border security and immigration,” NBC News reported. For comparison, 51% of Americans somewhat or strongly disapproved of his immigration agenda one year prior. “The administration’s aggressive tactics and deportation goals have dragged down Americans’ views of Trump on the very issue that helped sweep him into office,” the report noted.
In February, Dr. Austin Kocher of Syracuse University pointed to Morris Predictive Insights polling finding that “nearly seven in ten Americans believe the administration is focusing too much on deportations and not enough on the economy, inflation, and the cost of living.” But rather than course-correcting, Trump’s newest obsession has been his ballroom, for which he’s demanding $1 billion in taxpayer dollars despite repeatedly claiming it would be privately-funded. Americans are similarly peeved at this vanity project, opposing it by a 2-to-1 margin according to one Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll.
“There is also a notable enthusiasm gap: Nearly three times as many people ‘strongly’ oppose the project as strongly support it, the poll found,” the report continued.
AMERICANS BELIEVE ICE IS OUT OF CONTROL
From violently dragging half-naked elders out of their homes to using kindergarteners as human bait to simply just ignoring the law and court orders, Americans recognize that the Trump-Miller’s mass deportation agenda has just gone too far, is making our communities less safe, and certainly doesn’t need even more blank checks from Congress.
51% say the presence of mass deportation agents is making cities much more or somewhat more dangerous. Half of Americans say deportations have been too aggressive. Majorities worry about ICE arresting individuals in healthcare settings (DACA recipients in healthcare fields are facing deportation right now) and healthcare workers being forced to share patient immigration status with federal agents (59%).
Meanwhile, just 33% of Americans approve of ICE’s job, according to one UMass Amherst poll. “What do Americans think of ICE? Our polling suggests that majorities of Americans hold negative views of the agency,” said Tatishe Nteta, provost professor of political science at UMass Amherst and poll director, “with 59% disapproving of the way that ICE has handled its job and 50% believing that ICE officers are not adequately trained in conducting their immigration enforcement efforts.”
UMass researchers concluded that a pivot on immigration may be “one solution to the GOP’s increasingly dim chances of retaining control of the U.S. Congress,” the report noted. Not a chance. Just this month, so-called border czar Tom Homan threatened New York City with a massive surge of federal agents, stating that “You ain’t seen shit yet. This year will be a good year. Mass deportations are coming.”
AMERICANS WANT ACCOUNTABILITY – AND REAL SOLUTIONS THAT FINALLY ADDRESS OUR OUTDATED IMMIGRATION SYSTEM
According to Hart Research polling, a majority of voters expressed “support for Democrats demanding reforms to ICE and blocking DHS funding unless those reforms are adopted,” Semafor reported in February. “The specifics of Democrats’ demands have overwhelming support, too: Nearly eight in 10 surveyed support requiring judicial warrants for agents to search private property, for instance.”
“Many of the proposed reforms to ICE floated by lawmakers are popular,” Navigator found in its polling. “In particular, the most popular are requiring ICE agents to wear body cameras (86% support), requiring all ICE agents to go through full criminal background checks (84% support), requiring ICE agents to de-escalate conflict whenever possible (76% support), and setting standards of conduct for ICE agents, meaning they could be prosecuted if violating them (76%) support).”
But Americans don’t just want accountability, they want solutions – including long-overdue legalization that would provide stability and family unity for their undocumented neighbors. “Voters strongly support a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who have been here a long time,” the Center for American Progress said this month, finding that a full 68% of respondents support permanent relief for neighbors who’ve resided here for ten years or more.
And during a time when the administration is seeking to make America’s official immigration policy “whites only,” 57% said we should be expanding legal immigration.
BUT IN ORDER TO GET THERE, THE BLANK CHECKS MUST STOP NOW
Just today, amNewYork reported that ICE agents “appeared to disobey a judge’s order ruling on Tuesday when they made arrests at the immigration court” within New York’s 26 Federal Plaza. That Monday ruling had blocked mass deportation agents from making the non-criminal arrests of immigrants who were simply following the rules by going to their court hearings. But as amNewYork reported Tuesday, ICE appeared to be violating the judge’s order without any hesitation.
“According to Peter Melck Kuttel, a detention coordinator for Father Fabian Arias’ Saint Peter’s Church, he handed the agents copies of the ruling and told them that they could not be in the facility making detainments,” the report said. “’We don’t care,’ they allegedly told him in response.”
American taxpayers are already being asked to foot the bill for tens of billions in funding for a mass deportation crusade. Now ICE wants even more to carry out the kind of abuses happening in New York at this very moment? No way, no how, absolutely not. “Let’s be crystal clear here – mass deportation makes us poorer, weaker, and less safe,” responded Joanna Kuebler, Chief of Programs of America’s Voice. “Instead of scaling up the devastation and handing Stephen Miller a new blank check, Congress should rein in what is proven to hurt this nation.”
