Trump’s approval rating on immigration has tanked in recent weeks as more controversial deportations are revealed
President Donald Trump’s approval rating on immigration has tanked in recent weeks as his administration continues to remove migrants “without due process.”
Trump’s immigration approval rating fell from a net score of plus 18 points to a net score of just plus 10 points since mid-March, according to a new poll by Echelon Insights.
As of last week, 54 percent of likely voters approved of his immigration policies while 44 percent disapproved, the poll reveals. Last month, that gap was much wider, with 57 percent of Americans approving and 39 percent disapproving.
Since taking office in January, Trump’s overall approval rating on immigration has fallen five net points, Echelon Insights said.
When contacted for comment, White House spokesperson Kush Desai told The Independent that voters “gave President Trump a resounding mandate in November to enforce our immigration laws, mass deport criminal illegal migrants, and secure our border.”
“A majority of Americans continue to support President Trump delivering on that mandate,” Desai added.
This comes as the Trump administration faces both legal and public backlash for the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a father and Salvadoran immigrant who was living in Maryland. Garcia fled El Salvador as a teenager and even had a court order preventing his removal from the U.S. for humanitarian reasons.
The Supreme Court ruled last week that the government must “facilitate” the return of Garcia.
The Trump administration then filed an emergency request to block the ruling after admitting his removal was due to an “administrative error” and then later insisting, without evidence, he could be a member of a “foreign terrorist organization.” El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said he will not move to return Garcia to the U.S.
An appeals court turned down the request Thursday. The panel of judges said that the removal of U.S. residents “without due process” should be “shocking” to Americans’ “intuitive sense of liberty.”
Maryland Senator Chris van Hollen met with Garcia in El Salvador on Thursday to help secure his release.
“I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance,” the senator wrote. “I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.”
Similarly, the Trump administration also detained Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil last month after he participated in pro-Palestinian protests on campus in 2024. The arrest of Khalil, a legal resident, marked the administration’s first detainment related to their crackdown on pro-Palestine campus protesters across the country.
An immigration judge ruled that Khalil, a husband and soon-to-be father, can be deported last week. His attorneys are planning to appeal the decision.
Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral scholar at Georgetown University and legal resident, was detained by ICE agents soon after Khalil last month. The Trump administration accused him of “spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.”
Both cases have led immigration advocates to argue the Trump administration is infringing on residents’ Constitutional right to free speech.
Khalil and Suri aren’t the only students being impacted. The Trump administration has revoked an estimated 147 visas from students studying at 48 colleges across the country.
While earlier arrests were focused on pro-Palestinian campus activism, this latest wave of revocations appears to have little to do with political activity. Some college officials even say they suspect Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are combing traffic violation databases to find students.
