Immigration is Trump’s strongest issue, but many say he’s gone too far, new poll finds

Immigration is Trump’s strongest issue, but many say he’s gone too far, new poll finds
Americans are split on sending Venezuelans to El Salvador but oppose revoking student visas. (AP)
Short Url
Updated 25 April 2025
Follow

Immigration is Trump’s strongest issue, but many say he’s gone too far, new poll finds

Immigration is Trump’s strongest issue, but many say he’s gone too far, new poll finds
  • Survey: 46 percent of US adults approve of Trump’s handling of immigration
  • About half of Americans say he’s ‘gone too far’ when it comes to deporting immigrants in the US illegally

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration remains a point of strength as he takes wide-ranging actions to ramp up deportations and target people in the US illegally, according to a new poll.
The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 46 percent of US adults approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, which is nearly 10 percentage points higher than his approval rating on the economy and trade with other countries.
While Trump’s actions remain divisive, there’s less of a consensus that the Republican president has overstepped on immigration than on other issues. Still, there’s little appetite for an even tougher approach. About half of Americans say he’s “gone too far” when it comes to deporting immigrants in the US illegally. They’re divided on the deportation of Venezuelan immigrants who are accused of being gang members to El Salvador, and more oppose than support revoking foreign students’ visas over their participation in pro-Palestinian activism.
Here’s what the poll shows about how Americans are viewing the Trump administration’s actions on immigration.
Immigration is a point of strength for Trump, particularly with Republicans
Immigration was a major factor for voters in last November’s election, particularly for Trump’s supporters, and they were more open to tough stances on the issue than they’d been four years earlier. And even though many of Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts are currently mired in battles with federal judges, it’s remained an issue of relative strength in the court of public opinion.
Similar to an AP-NORC poll conducted in March, nearly half of Americans approve of Trump’s immigration approach, while about 4 in 10 approve of how he’s handling the presidency.
This higher approval on immigration comes primarily from Republicans. About 8 in 10 Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, higher than the roughly 7 in 10 Republicans who approve of how he’s handling the economy or trade negotiations with other countries.
Other groups are less enthusiastic about Trump’s approach. About 4 in 10 independents and only about 2 in 10 Democrats approve of Trump on immigration.
Relatively few Americans are concerned they’ll know someone who is directly affected by increased immigration enforcement, according to the poll. About 2 in 10 Americans say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned that they or someone they know will be directly affected.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to worry they’ll be affected, and Hispanic adults are more likely than white or Black adults to be concerned.
About half say Trump has ‘gone too far’ on deportations
About half of Americans say Trump has “gone too far” when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the US illegally. About one-third say his approach has been “about right,” and about 2 in 10 say he’s not gone far enough.
They’re unhappier, generally, with how he’s approaching trade negotiations. About 6 in 10 say he’s “gone too far” in imposing new tariffs on other countries.
There is not a strong desire for more aggressive action on immigration, though, even among the people who approve of what’s Trump doing. Among the Americans who approve of how Trump is handling immigration, about 6 in 10 say his approach has been “about right,” and roughly 3 in 10 say he hasn’t gone far enough.
Americans are split on sending Venezuelans to El Salvador but oppose revoking student visas
There is a deep divide on whether and how the Trump administration should undertake large-scale deportations, according to the survey, which was conducted in mid-April, while Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., was on a trip to El Salvador to demand the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported there in what officials later described as an “administrative error.”
The poll found that 38 percent of Americans favor deporting all immigrants living in the US illegally, down slightly from an AP-NORC poll conducted just before Trump took office in January. About the same share of Americans are opposed, and about 2 in 10 are neutral.
The findings are very similar for Trump’s policy of sending Venezuelan immigrants in the US who authorities say are gang members to a prison in El Salvador.
But the public is more opposed, broadly, to revoking foreign students’ visas over their participation in pro-Palestinian activism, which has emerged as another flashpoint.
About half of US adults oppose this, and about 3 in 10 are in support. This action is particularly unpopular among Americans with a college degree. About 6 in 10 strongly or somewhat oppose it, compared with about 4 in 10 Americans who aren’t college graduates.


SpaceX launches another Starship mega rocket in latest demo after back-to-back explosions

SpaceX launches another Starship mega rocket in latest demo after back-to-back explosions
Updated 8 sec ago
Follow

SpaceX launches another Starship mega rocket in latest demo after back-to-back explosions

SpaceX launches another Starship mega rocket in latest demo after back-to-back explosions
  • The 403-foot (123-meter) rocket blasted off on its ninth demo from Starbase, SpaceX’s launch site at the southern tip of Texas

After back-to-back explosions, SpaceX launched its mega rocket Starship again on Tuesday evening in hopes of making it through the entire test flight and releasing a series of mock satellites.
The 403-foot (123-meter) rocket blasted off on its ninth demo from Starbase, SpaceX’s launch site at the southern tip of Texas. Residents voted this month to organize as an official city.
Plans called for the spacecraft to target a splashdown halfway around the world in the Indian Ocean, after popping out eight objects meant to resemble SpaceX’s Starlink Internet satellites.
It was the first time one of CEO Elon Musk’s Starships — intended for moon and Mars travel — flew with a recycled booster that aimed for the Gulf of Mexico. There were no plans to catch the booster with giant chopsticks back at the launch pad unlike earlier tests.
The previous two Starships never made it past the Caribbean. The demos earlier this year ended just minutes after liftoff, raining wreckage into the ocean. No injuries or serious damage were reported, although airline travel was disrupted. The Federal Aviation Administration last week cleared Starship for another flight, expanding the hazard area and pushing the liftoff outside peak air travel times.
Besides taking corrective action and making upgrades, SpaceX modified the latest spacecraft’s thermal tiles and installed special catch fittings. This one was meant to sink in the Indian Ocean, but the company wanted to test the add-ons for capturing future versions back at the pad, just like the boosters.
NASA needs SpaceX to make major strides over the next year with Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — in order to land astronauts back on the moon. Next year’s moonshot with four astronauts will fly around the moon, but will not land. That will happen in 2027 at the earliest and require a Starship to get two astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface and back off again.


Moscow airports disrupted as Russia says Ukraine launches drone assault

Moscow airports disrupted as Russia says Ukraine launches drone assault
Updated 27 min 17 sec ago
Follow

Moscow airports disrupted as Russia says Ukraine launches drone assault

Moscow airports disrupted as Russia says Ukraine launches drone assault
  • Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Telegram that 12 drones heading for the Russian capital had been shot down
  • The attack comes after Ukraine said it had faced the most intense three days of Russian drone attacks since Moscow launched its military offensive in 2022

MOSCOW: Russian authorities said they had battled a major Ukrainian drone attack late Tuesday and early Wednesday, with at least two Moscow airports forced to suspend flights.
The defense ministry said in a Telegram post that 112 Ukrainian drones had been “destroyed and intercepted” in six different regions in the three hours up to midnight.
Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said on Telegram that 12 drones heading for the Russian capital had been shot down.
Some 59 had targeted the southwestern region of Bryansk, the defense ministry said. Others were fired at the Kursk, Belgorod, Tula, Oryol and Kaluga regions.
The attack comes after Ukraine said it had faced the most intense three days of Russian drone attacks since Moscow launched its military offensive in 2022.
The Russian military announces Ukrainian drone attacks most days but rarely of this intensity over such a short period of time.
Moscow, several hundred kilometers from the frontier, is not often the target of such a big attack.
But authorities have been increasingly forced to divert flights from Moscow airports in recent weeks.
This time, the Federal Aviation Transport Agency said restrictions had been introduced at Moscow’s Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports.
Ukraine said that Russia launched more than 900 drones over three days up to Monday. Thirteen civilians were killed in attacks on Sunday, including three children.
Russia’s defense ministry said Tuesday that it had responded to Ukraine’s “provocation” by launching drone and missile attacks on Russian civilian installations.

 


Trump administration asks Supreme Court to halt judge’s order on deportations to South Sudan

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to halt judge’s order on deportations to South Sudan
Updated 59 min 36 sec ago
Follow

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to halt judge’s order on deportations to South Sudan

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to halt judge’s order on deportations to South Sudan
  • This is the latest case where federal judges weighing in on the legality of the Trump administration’s sweeping agenda have used forceful, sometimes even scathing, language to register their displeasure

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to halt an order allowing migrants to challenge their deportations to South Sudan, an appeal that came hours after the judge suggested the Trump administration was “manufacturing” chaos and said he hoped that “reason can get the better of rhetoric.”
Judge Brian Murphy found the White House violated a court order with a deportation flight bound for the chaotic African nation carrying people from other countries who had been convicted of crimes in the US He said those immigrants must get a real chance to raise any fears that being sent there could put them in danger.
The federal government argued that Murphy has stalled its efforts to carry out deportations of migrants who can’t be returned to their home countries. Finding countries willing to take them is a “a delicate diplomatic endeavor” and the court requirements are a major setback, Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in an emergency appeal asking the court to immediately halt his order.
Murphy, for his part, said he had given the Trump administration “remarkable flexibility with minimal oversight” in the case and emphasized the numerous times he attempted to work with the government, according to an order published Monday night.
This is the latest case where federal judges weighing in on the legality of the Trump administration’s sweeping agenda have used forceful, sometimes even scathing, language to register their displeasure. The Trump administration has accused judges of thwarting the will of voters by stopping or slowing the White House agenda.
The judge said the men couldn’t advocate for themselves
In a hearing last week called to address reports that eight immigrants had been sent to South Sudan, Murphy said the men hadn’t been able to argue that the deportation could put them in danger.
But instead of ordering the government to return the men to the US for hearings — as the plaintiffs wanted — he gave the government the option of holding the hearings in Djibouti, where the plane had flown on its way to South Sudan, as long as the men remained in US government custody. Days later, the Trump administration filed another motion saying that Murphy was requiring them to hold “dangerous criminals in a sensitive location.”
Murphy, though, said it was the government’s “own suggestion” that they be allowed to process the men’s claims while they were still abroad.
“It turns out that having immigration proceedings on another continent is harder and more logistically cumbersome than Defendants anticipated,” the Boston-based Murphy, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden, wrote.
The government has argued that the men had a history with the immigration system, giving them prior opportunities to express a fear of being deported to a country outside their homeland. And they’ve said that the men’s home countries — Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan — would not take them back.
“The district court’s invented process offers little but delay. While certain aliens may benefit from stalling their removal, the nation does not,” wrote Sauer. Keeping the migrants in Djibouti has also strained the US relationship with that country, officials have said.
The administration has also repeatedly emphasized the men’s criminal histories in the US and portrayed them as national security threats.
The administration is relying on third countries
The Trump administration has increasingly relied on third countries to take immigrants who cannot be sent to their home countries for various reasons. Some countries simply refuse to take back their citizens being deported while others take back some but not all of their citizens. And some cannot be sent to their home countries because of concerns they’ll be tortured or harmed.
Historically that has meant that immigration enforcement officials have had to release people into the US that it wants to deport but can’t.
But the Trump administration has leaned on other countries to take them. In the Western Hemisphere, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama have all agreed to take some people being removed from the US, with El Salvador being the most controversial example because it is holding people deported from the US in a notorious prison.
The Trump administration has said it’s exploring other third countries for deportations.
Murphy said in his order that the eight men were initially told May 19 they’d be going to South Africa and then later that same day were told they were going to South Sudan. He noted that the US government “has issued stark warnings regarding South Sudan.”
He said the men had fewer than 16 hours between being told they were going to be removed and going to the airport, “most of which were non-waking hours,” and “limited, if any” ability to talk to family or a lawyer. “From the course of conduct, it is hard to come to any conclusion other than that Defendants invite a lack of clarity as a means of evasion,” the judge wrote.


Trump says ‘Golden Dome’ free for Canada — if it joins US

Trump says ‘Golden Dome’ free for Canada — if it joins US
Updated 28 May 2025
Follow

Trump says ‘Golden Dome’ free for Canada — if it joins US

Trump says ‘Golden Dome’ free for Canada — if it joins US
  • “I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Canada could join his proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system for free — but only if it becomes part of the United States.
Otherwise it would cost Canada $61 billion to be part of the system, said Trump, who has repeatedly called for the United States’ northern neighbor to become the 51st state.
Canada has expressed interest in joining the missile system — plans for which Trump unveiled last week to defend against a wide array of enemy weapons — but has firmly rejected any loss of sovereignty.
“I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network.
“But (it) will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State. They are considering the offer!“
There was no immediate response from Canada to Trump’s claims.
Trump announced plans for the “Golden Dome” system a week ago, saying it would eventually cost around $175 billion and would be operational by the end of his term in 2029.
Experts say the scheme faces huge technical and political challenges, and could cost far more than he has estimated to achieve its goals.
Trump also said at the time that Canada was interested in joining the missile system. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney then confirmed that his country had held “high level” talks on the issue.
NATO members Canada and the United States are partners in continental defense through the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
But the scheme now seems set to add to the tensions that Trump has sparked with Canada.
Carney politely but firmly dismissed Trump’s calls for Canada to become part of the United States when he visited the White House earlier this month, saying his country was “never for sale.”
The Canadian premier and Trump did however appear to smooth over some of the strains over the tariffs that the US president has slapped on Ottawa.

 


US suspends student visa processing as Trump ramps up social media vetting

US suspends student visa processing as Trump ramps up social media vetting
Updated 28 May 2025
Follow

US suspends student visa processing as Trump ramps up social media vetting

US suspends student visa processing as Trump ramps up social media vetting
  • The most visible targets have been students involved in activism over Gaza

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday ordered a suspension of student visa processing as President Donald Trump’s administration ramps up vetting of their social media, according to an internal cable.
It is the latest move that takes aim at international students, a major source of revenue for US universities, after Rubio rescinded hundreds of visas and the Trump administration moved to bar Harvard University from admitting any non-Americans.
A cable signed by Rubio and seen by AFP orders embassies and consulates not to allow “any additional student or exchange visa... appointment capacity until further guidance is issued.”
It said the State Department “plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting for all such applications.”
The cable suggested that the suspension could be brief, telling embassies to receive new guidance in the “coming days,” although US missions already frequently see major backlogs in processing applications.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce did not comment directly on the cable but said that “we take very seriously the process of vetting who it is that comes into the country.”
“It’s a goal, as stated by the president and Secretary Rubio, to make sure that people who are here understand what the law is, that they don’t have any criminal intent, that they are going to be contributors to the experience here, however short or long their status,” she said.
Asked if students seeking to study at US universities should expect visas to be ready before terms begin in the autumn, Bruce said only: “If you’re going to be applying for a visa, follow the normal process, the normal steps, (and) expect to be looked at.”
Rubio last week told a Senate hearing that he has revoked “thousands” of visas since Trump took office on January 20.
Rubio has used an obscure law that allows the secretary of state to remove foreigners for activities deemed counter to US foreign policy interests.
The most visible targets have been students involved in activism over Gaza. Trump administration officials accused students of anti-Semitism, charges strenuously denied by a number of the people targeted.