More Americans Favor Deporting Illegal Immigrants 

June 5, 2024

Our latest survey finds that the public is divided over whether all immigrants living in the United States illegally should be deported. Fifty percent of the public supports this option and nearly as many (46 percent) oppose it. It marks a dramatic change in American attitudes. In the summer of 2016, roughly the same moment Donald Trump became the Republican nominee, far fewer Americans supported deportation. At the time, only one-third (32 percent) of Americans were in favor of deporting all immigrants living in the US illegally back to their home country. Sixty-six percent were opposed. There are stark partisan divisions in views about deportation: 81 percent of Republicans, but only 24 percent of Democrats, favor this policy.