How Americans Feel About Immigrants And Immigration

Leo Migdal

-Dec 3, 2025, 10:27 PM

how americans feel about immigrants and immigration

At The New York Times, Ruth Igielnik, Caroline Soler, and Christine Zhang report on what recent polling, including PRRI’s, finds about Americans’ views on immigrants and immigration. Additionally, a new CNN analysis concludes that overall, Americans support upholding the principle of due process. This year’s PRRI American Values Survey finds that 65% of Americans oppose the U.S. government deporting undocumented immigrants to foreign prisons without allowing them to challenge their deportation in court, including 39% who strongly oppose. Today, 62% of Republicans support this policy, a decrease since the question was first asked in May 2025 (78%). Support among independents also declined, from 35% to 25%, while Democrats’ support remains unchanged (10%).

The Associated Press writes that a federal court panel has temporarily blocked Texas Republicans’ newly redrawn congressional maps, ruling that they were racially gerrymandered and driven by partisan intent. Earlier this summer, President Donald Trump directed Republican-led states to redraw their districts in an unprecedented push to secure more conservative-leaning U.S. House seats in the 2026 midterm elections. Since then, Texas’s map prompted California voters to approve a Democratic-drawn alternative that creates five additional competitive seats for the party. PRRI finds that majorities of Americans hold unfavorable views of both the Republican Party (57%) and the Democratic Party (60%). At Religion News Service, Bob Smietana analyzes Christian support for Trump’s mass deportation policies, noting that immigrants and nonwhite Americans make up a significant percentage of Christian Americans today.

When it comes to Catholics in particular, PRRI President and Founder Read more in the Survey Report: Trump’s Unprecedented Actions Deepen Asymmetric Divides Thanks for reading! Subscribe to receive The Morning Buzz and other new posts from PRRI. Pew Research Center conducted this study to understand the American public’s views of immigration enforcement policies and the personal impact they have on U.S. adults.

For this analysis, we surveyed 5,123 adults from Feb. 24 to March 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... 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 report, the topline and the survey methodology. The terms Hispanic and Latino are used interchangeably in this report. Immigrant refers to people born outside of the 50 U.S.

states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories. President Trump’s approval ratings sank even lower this week, with an AP poll finding just 39% of Americans approve of the job he’s doing. The President is underwater on nearly every issue AP asked about, from tariffs to healthcare to the economy. But one issue stood out as a bright spot: border security is President Trump’s strongest issue, with 55% approving the job he’s doing. It’s the only issue where he has support from a majority of the country.

Immigration in general ranks as the President’s third-best issue, with 43% approval, just behind crime (46%). Immigration has long been one of the country’s most polarizing debates. But the polling shows a more complicated picture than the partisan talking points suggest. Correction & clarification: A prior version of this story misstated poll results. It’s also been updated to add more details about the poll. Americans' views on immigration took a positive swing this year amid President Donald Trump's ongoing crackdown, according to new Gallup polling.

The share of Americans who thought immigration should decrease – 55% – reached a 5-year high point in 2024. This year, it has dropped to 30%, and positive views of immigration have hit a record high of 79%, according to poll results released July 11. The poll surveyed 1,402 Americans between June 2 and 26. The questions pollsters asked – whether immigration should be kept at its current level, increased, or decreased, and whether immigration is good or bad for the country – did not specify legal or illegal... The Trump administration ramped up its promise to carry out widespread deportations to remove people without legal documentation in June, sending out masked immigration agents to raid restaurants, farms and hardware stores and touching... He has unveiled a new "Alligator Alcatraz" detention facility for migrants in the Florida Everglades.

The administration has faced legal challenges at every turn, bringing it several times to the brink of clashes with judges who have imposed barriers on the scale and tactics of the crackdown. WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans have grown markedly more positive toward immigration over the past year, with the share wanting immigration reduced dropping from 55% in 2024 to 30% today. At the same time, a record-high 79% of U.S. adults say immigration is a good thing for the country. These shifts reverse a four-year trend of rising concern about immigration that began in 2021 and reflect changes among all major party groups.

With illegal border crossings down sharply this year, fewer Americans than in June 2024 back hard-line border enforcement measures, while more favor offering pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. These findings are based on a June 2-26 Gallup poll of 1,402 U.S. adults, including oversamples of Hispanic and Black Americans, weighted to match national demographics. The same poll finds many more Americans disapproving than approving of President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration. Trump’s 21% approval rating on the issue among Hispanic adults is below his 35% rating nationally, with the deficit likely reflecting that group’s low support for some of the administration’s signature immigration policies. America has always been a nation built by immigrants, but the sources and scale of immigration have changed dramatically over the past 50 years.

The iconic “melting pot” metaphor, once central to how Americans understood immigrant integration, now competes with newer models like the “mosaic” or “salad bowl.” Immigration patterns today affect everything from job markets and innovation to electoral politics and local communities. The concept of America as a “melting pot” took hold after playwright Israel Zangwill’s 1908 play of the same name premiered in Washington, D.C. The play presented a powerful vision: America as a crucible where old-world hatreds and ethnic rivalries would burn away, forging a unified American identity. President Theodore Roosevelt attended opening night and declared afterward, “We Americans are children of the crucible.” His endorsement helped cement the melting pot as a cornerstone of American identity for decades. News Release: Immigrants Report Rising Fear, Negative Economic and Health Impacts, and Changing Political Views During the First Year of President Trump’s Second Term

More on: See all reporting related to the KFF-New York Times Survey of Immigrants Immigrants are a diverse group who play a significant role in our nation’s workforce and communities. As of June 2025, there were 51.9 million immigrants living in the U.S., and roughly one in four children in the U.S. live with at least one immigrant parent. During his second term, President Trump has implemented an array of immigration policy changes focused on restricting immigration and increasing interior immigration enforcement efforts. KFF conducted this survey in partnership with The New York Times to increase understanding of immigrant experiences amid this policy environment.

It builds on the 2023 KFF/LA Times Survey of Immigrants and two additional surveys conducted by KFF in 2024 and 2025. This is one of three reports from this survey. Other reports focus on the health and health care experiences of immigrants and the political views of immigrant voters. Immigrants: In this report, immigrants are defined as adults residing in the U.S. who were born outside the U.S. and its territories.

This includes naturalized citizens, lawfully present immigrants, and immigrants who are likely undocumented. Naturalized citizen: Immigrants who said they are a U.S. citizen. Data-driven research affirms the essential role that immigrants—regardless of legal status—play in strengthening the U.S. economy, enriching communities, and contributing to the nation’s workforce. Immigrants pay billions in taxes, support vital programs like Social Security, and help drive innovation, care work, and small business development.

Policies that target immigrants for removal often result in widespread harm—separating families, disrupting local economies, and undermining community stability. At the same time, a clear majority of Americans support inclusive immigration policies, including pathways to citizenship, recognizing that our shared future is more secure when rooted in dignity, opportunity, and fairness. Read on for seven key facts about immigration that every American should know. Trump’s claims about high undocumented migration is contradicted by the facts: border crossings have plummeted since late 2023. This decline started during the end of Biden’s term and well before Trump was elected (see graph below) and after the launch of the CBP One app in 2023, an online portal where migrants... The CBP One app was largely responsible for a reduction of border crossings and apprehensions, where the application created a streamlined online queue for asylum and refugee seekers.

However, the Trump administration has eliminated this legal pathway process, which experts warn could increase the number of unauthorized crossings at the U.S. border. A growing number of undocumented immigrants have authorization to work and reside in the U.S. and, under current law, are protected from deportation removal. Immigrants who arrived through humanitarian pathways–like Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or asylum–make up 30 percent of the undocumented population as of 2022. These immigrants seeking humanitarian relief are counted in most undocumented estimates because they could be subject to deportation if humanitarian channels of entry are ended.

According to USC ERI’s California Immigrant Data Portal, 69% of undocumented Californians have been living in the country for at least a decade. This means that many undocumented people are strongly linked to American citizens and families, with deep long-settled roots connecting them to schools, jobs, and our communities. Nationwide, 22 million people live in households with an undocumented immigrant. As of 2022, approximately 4.4 million U.S.-born children live in a mixed-status household with an undocumented parent. Of the 22 million people in households with an unauthorized immigrant, 11 million are U.S. born or lawful immigrants.

How Americans Feel About Immigrants And Immigration

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