CNN Poll: Majorities oppose Trump deporting migrants to Salvadoran prison, canceling international student visas

A rising share of Americans say that President Donald Trump’s deportation policies have gone too far, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds. Just over half, 52%, say Trump has gone too far in deporting undocumented immigrants, up from 45% in February. A similar 52% now say that Trump’s immigration policies have not made the US safer. And most, 57%, say that they do not believe the federal government is being careful in following the law while carrying out deportations. Trump’s numbers on immigration remain stronger than his approval rating overall or on the economy – a different dynamic from his first term, when it was among his weakest issues. But the latest data suggests that, as the White House begins to implement its immigration agenda, a number of those moves have proved unpopular. The administration’s push to revoke the visas of some international students, for instance, draws 2-to-1 opposition, while moving troops to the southern border garners more supportive reactions. Trump’s overall approval rating for handling immigration now stands at 45%, down from 51% in March. A higher 53% say they have at least some confidence in him to deal with immigration policy, although that’s also down from 60% in the transition period before he took office. Republican support for Trump’s immigration agenda remains high – 94% express confidence in him to handle the issue and 89% say his immigration policies have made the country safer. But more than half of independents now say they have no real confidence in him to deal with the topic, with 56% now saying he has gone too far on deportations. Democrats, meanwhile, have grown still more overwhelmingly opposed to Trump’s actions on immigration, with the share saying he’s gone too far on deportations rising 9 points to 85% since February. In an especially high-profile deportation case, a 56% majority of Americans say that the Trump administration should work to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom it has acknowledged mistakenly deporting to El Salvador, back to the US, in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling that the administration must “facilitate” his return. Just 20% say that the administration should not work to bring him back, with 23% saying they haven’t heard enough to say. Both 82% of Democrats and 58% of independents say that the US should work to bring him back. Republicans are more closely divided, with 28% saying the US should try to bring him back, 40% that it should not, and 32% that they haven’t heard enough to say. Overall, 7 in 10 of Americans say that the government should prioritize a pathway to legal residency for some undocumented immigrants over deporting everyone living illegally in the US – down from a high of 84% in the first year of Trump’s first term, but still far outweighing the 30% who say the government should focus on mass deportations. Forty-four percent of the Americans who currently approve of Trump’s handling of immigration also say the government should develop a plan to allow some legal residency. Poll findings on this topic can vary widely with question wording. Other recent polling has found that Trump’s ratings are higher for his handling of border security than his handling of deportation, and that support for mass deportations often erodes when people are asked whether that policy should extend to longtime residents without criminal records. In CNN’s survey, Trump’s moves to station thousands of US military troops at the southern border with Mexico stand out as popular, with Americans supporting that by a 12-point margin. But public opposition outweighs support for a number of the Trump administration’s other actions on immigration. By a 28-point margin, Americans say they’re against revoking the visas of some international students based on their “beliefs, statements, or associations,” and by a 22-point margin, they oppose deporting some immigrants living in the US directly to a prison in El Salvador. The public also tilts against using the government’s wartime authority to carry out deportations more quickly by a 16-point margin, and against giving immigration officials access to IRS data on undocumented immigrants by a smaller 5 points. Substantial minorities, from 17% to roughly one-quarter, say they don’t have an opinion either way on the policies tested in the poll, a softness in opinion that may help explain why opinions on Trump’s immigration policies can be highly sensitive to a survey’s framing. Political independents support the stationing of troops at the border by a 5-point margin, while opposing all of the other policies tested. The poll also finds substantial age divides on some questions: Americans younger than 45 are 16 points likelier than their older counterparts to oppose revoking student visas, and 11 points likelier to oppose the deportation of some immigrants to a Salvadoran prison. The CNN poll was conducted among 1,678 adults nationwide by SSRS from April 17-24, using a combination of online and telephone interviews. The survey samples were originally drawn from two sources – a probability-based online panel and a registration-based sample – and combined. Respondents were initially contacted by mail, phone or email. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.9 points. CNN’s Jennifer Agiesta and Edward Wu contributed to this report.