tags: Press Releases

The American Public on Immigration – Lessons from Laken Riley Debate and Coming Ugly Blitz from Trump

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Washington, DC — The following is a statement from Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice, assessing the current moment on immigration in light of the Laken Riley Act debate and ahead of Donald Trump’s coming inauguration:

“The process displayed by Democrats during the Laken Riley Act legislative debate is an alarming first sign of acquiescence to Donald Trump and Stephen Miller. Greenlighting a massive increase in unnecessary detention and empowering the radical anti-immigrant state attorneys general is deeply harmful and undermines the solutions we need. Crucially, it will not spare Democrats from Republican attacks on immigration.

Here is what we must remember: despite Donald Trump’s victory and the prominence of his vicious anti-immigrant pledges, a strong majority of the American public prefers a balanced approach to immigration, involving both border security and legalization for undocumented immigrants, instead of mass deportation (see polling roundup here and details below). And recall that in Trump’s first term, the American public swung sharply in a pro-immigrant direction, rejecting Trump’s cruelty, chaos, and preference for politics over solutions (see here for a reminder on Americans’ pro-immigrant shift during the first Trump term). We again expect a backlash and buyer’s remorse from Americans upon witnessing the cruelty and counterproductive harms of Trump’s immigration agenda, including on the American economy and our core values.

Given the blizzard of harmful immigration policies on their way and Trump’s preference for ugly political theatre instead of real policy solutions, Democratic lawmakers need to describe their vision for immigration and make plans to lay out contrasts. Standing up for long-settled immigrants and legal immigration within a controlled and orderly system is good for America, our economy, and our future – and the centerpiece of an alternative political vision that works better than performative complicity.”

Additional Resources 

Note that legalization of undocumented immigrants was more popular than mass deportation in a head-to-head choice by a 56-40% margin in the Election 2024 National Edison exit poll and a 55-44% margin in the massive AP VoteCast election poll

Those findings echo those of other recent polls that show the public prefers legalization over Trump-style deportations, especially when the details and scope are detailed.