Since most Republicans view immigration itself as a threat, they care little who is actually a criminal
When Trump took office in January, there were 10.3 immigrants with criminal convictions arrested and detained by ICE for every one with no record. Now, there are 1.2 criminals detained for every immigrant with no record.
Partly as a result of this aggressive approach, approval for Trump’s handling of immigration has plunged. Among the Republicans who selected him as their 2024 presidential nominee and overwhelmingly backed his candidacy, though, support remains strong. In fact, as PRRI President Robert P. Jones put it last week: “It’s virtually impossible to write a survey question about the treatment of immigrants that is too brutal for Republicans to support.”
He pointed to three PRRI polls (from 2023, March and May) to bolster that point. Less than half of Americans thought in 2023 that potentially deadly deterrents should be put at the border to stop immigrants. Only about one-third thought this year that immigrants should be concentrated in military-run camps before deportation or that undocumented immigrants should be allowed to be sent to overseas prisons without being able to legally challenge those removals.
Nearly 4 in 5 Republicans expressed approval for those ideas.
This is not a response rooted in a sober appreciation for the sanctity of American immigration laws. For Trump and for many of his supporters it is instead a response centered on the idea that immigrants are dangerous or damaging to the United States. This is often framed through the lens of what’s called “great replacement” theory; in PRRI’s March poll, 3 in 5 Republicans agreed with the idea that “immigrants are invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background.” [Continue reading…]