There Is A Growing Consensus Around Immigration!
Democrats...Are You Listening?
Suppose you listen to a politician, say, like Donald Trump, campaigning for your vote. He will tell you there are only two choices when it comes to the immigration issue: either you support complete open borders or you support a draconian style deportation regime to “cleanse the nation’s blood.”
That was the message on which Trump rode to the White House in 2024. Both of these options are false. The vast majority of Americans want neither of these two extreme positions.
Americans are united: no mass deportations and no open borders! There is a consensus emerging on this issue and the party that will listen and genuinely develop policies to address a real issue will be rewarded at the ballot box.
Immigration is often used as a wedge issue, but current polling shows remarkable unity around common-sense solutions. Americans, across party lines, favor a mix of enforcement and compassion. They want secure borders, but they also believe in giving people a chance to earn their place in American society.
Democrats…are you listening?
In two election cycles, Donald Trump has manipulated attitudes and feelings about immigration to achieve the highest office in the land. He deliberately stirred up anxiety and concern about the number of “illegals” and the “immoral” nature of immigrants, which gave him the ability to play on fear and resentment. It is an old playbook that has been used many times in US history.
Politicians for generations have scapegoated and blamed non-white people for America’s troubles, riding fear and anger to office only to dismiss the issue once they have their position secured. Then, by the next election cycle, all of a sudden and just like that, immigration is again the number one threat to the United States.
We Are Not Polarized On Immigration
Immigration is often portrayed as a deeply polarizing issue. But current polling tells a different story. Americans are not demanding mass deportations or completely closed borders. Americans want neither of these extremes. Instead, they want practical reforms that secure the border, uphold the law, and recognize the humanity and contributions of those already here.
Even within Trump’s base, attitudes are shifting. As the 2024 election approached, candidates who took a hardline stance on immigration found themselves out of step, not just with the broader electorate but increasingly with their supporters.
Here is what is happening now that Trump is taking action on his promise and desire to deport 11 million people…all brown people by the way. Americans are awakening to the reality of its cruelty, inhumanity, and the impractical nature of such a project. What is emerging is a broad consensus of attitudes about immigration that reflects a more moderate, humane, and practical policy.
In other words, Americans are more united than the media and politicians are leading us to believe.
Democrats…are you listening?
With revelations of how the Trump regime has trampled due process, created cruel treatment in places such as Alligator Alcatraz, and watched their neighbors of many years disappear off the street, a surprising amount of common ground has emerged among voters across the political spectrum.
Amid the noise of election-year rhetoric and Trump’s renewed calls for mass deportation, most Americans are rejecting the extremes and embracing a more balanced, humane, and pragmatic approach to immigration.
The Data Tells The Story
Let’s consider some recent data. Attitudes have shifted on the question of pursuing legal status for immigrants versus deportation:
Recent polling shows overwhelming support for legal status over removals:
64% (Quinnipiac, June 2025) support legal status vs. 31% for mass deportation
63% (Navigator, July 2025) chose a legal path vs. 27% for deportation
65% (Pew, June 2025) support legal status if requirements are met
Americans have always been supportive of finding a legal pathway for immigrants, but that support has grown over the past three years, as the chart below suggests:
This data illustrates a strong, consistent national preference for integrating immigrants into American society as we have always done, rather than expelling undocumented individuals who are contributing members of their communities.
Even some Trump voters are shifting away from the mass deportation policy. In 2024, 63% of Trump voters favored a national deportation push. By mid-2025, only 48% of Republicans said they wanted immigration levels reduced, down from 88% the year before (Gallup). Trump’s approval on immigration dropped to 41% (Reuters/Ipsos, July 2025), a sign of unease even among supporters. Support among Republicans for legal pathways has risen from 46% in 2024 to around 60% in 2025.
This dramatic shift suggests that while Republicans remain more conservative on immigration than Democrats, they are no longer monolithic in support of extreme enforcement. And there is plenty of common ground to find.
It appears only the most hard-core MAGA brainwashed supporters are in favor of mass deportation (around 30%), and they are a minority, and will not abandon their beloved dictator. It is key to understand that most Americans are more compassionate, pragmatic, and willing to find common-sense solutions for the immigration problem we are facing. MAGA forces are a blip. They are the outlier.
This is an opportunity, if any Democrats are listening.
About two-thirds of Americans agree that we need a better solution. What if Democrats took control of this narrative and tapped into the consensus that exists instead of allowing MAGAism to dictate the story? Let’s come back to that point.
Increasing numbers of Americans are coming to see immigration as a net positive for the country. It always has been, but that story needs to be told and retold.
Despite years of divisive rhetoric, Americans have grown increasingly supportive of immigration. A 2025 Gallup poll shows a record-high 79% of U.S. adults view immigration as a good thing, up from 64% the previous year. Even among Republicans, favorable views have surged to 64%, nearly double the 2024 level.
This shift in perception marks a broader recognition that immigrants contribute significantly to American culture, the economy, and innovation, especially as labor shortages and demographic shifts reshape the workforce. This will continue to be true over the next two decades as the proportion of Euro-Americans continues to decline relative to non-white populations in the US.
Consensus Is Emerging On Immigration
But let's focus on the specifics. What are the areas of consensus among pragmatic Americans who make up the majority of the electorate?
The Mass Deportation Agenda Lacks Popular Support
Trump’s proposals to deploy the National Guard and conduct large-scale raids may energize his small base, but they do not reflect majority opinion. A 2025 Gallup survey revealed that only 38% of Americans support mass deportations—a significant drop from 47% in 2024.
Even more telling, a Marist/PBS poll conducted in July found that 54% of respondents believe ICE has already gone too far in its enforcement tactics, compared to just 18% who think the agency hasn’t done enough.
Seeing the National Guard in the streets of Los Angeles and masked ICE agents raiding workplaces and neighborhoods has had a resounding negative impact on public opinion. Americans do not want a police state.
Beyond this, there are many areas of potential agreement and consensus among people from all swaths of political persuasion. Details of policy are always difficult to bring to a consensus, but the broad outline is there.
Americans Draw a Clear Line: Criminals vs. Law-Abiding Residents
While there is strong support for deporting undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records, often topping 75% approval, public opinion shifts dramatically when considering law-abiding undocumented residents. Deporting people who have lived in the U.S. for years, raised families, and contributed to their communities garners far less support.
This nuanced view suggests Americans are not anti-enforcement, but favor smart enforcement rooted in safety and justice, not political theater. What the Trump administration is doing is clearly political theatre. There is no rationale for arresting Hispanic residents who are law-abiding, hard-working members of their communities. This practice, which is now taking place daily, is abhorrent to those committed to democracy and the fair-mindedness of most Americans. This represents a huge disconnect between the majority of the American people and the Trump administration.
No, this isn’t what they voted for. Democrats, are you listening?
Americans Support Broad Balanced Reform
Most Americans are pragmatic when it comes to immigration issues. In several swing-state surveys, most voters say they want a comprehensive approach that includes:
Strengthened border security and use of E-Verify; Voters generally support deterring illegal immigration through measures like E-Verify, which requires employers to verify new hires' eligibility to work in the U.S.
Expansion of legal work visa programs; voters in both parties favor increasing the number of available work visas to allow more migrant workers to enter the U.S. legally, particularly when employer demand exists.
A path to legal status or citizenship for long-time undocumented immigrants; voters, including majorities in both parties, prefer a path to legal status or citizenship for long-term undocumented immigrants over mass deportations.
This reflects what many immigration advocates have long argued: Americans are open to reform and not to cruelty. Many of these ideas were included in the 2024 bipartisan immigration reform package that Trump sabotaged because he wanted to run on an anti-immigration platform.
After all, if we had solved the immigration issue, how would Donny win the election and inoculate himself from prison time? It was desperation 101 on the part of the Trump campaign to torpedo a solid bipartisan immigration reform package for electioneering…just ask Republican Senator Lankford.
Until we turn the immigration issue from an electioneering slogan into a real human rights issue, we will go round and round each election cycle with politicians who will manipulate and exploit the issue to gin up fear and hatred and win votes.
This tactic has to stop.
But if we can find a way to merge the consensus of compassion, realism, and pragmatism on this issue to really solve it, we might find that we are more united than we are divided. We might discover that we have been played and had by politicians and media talking heads who are more interested in raising ire and ratings than finding solutions.
Immigration is a serious and important issue facing us today, especially in an era of climate change, demographic changes, and desperation experienced by so many in unstable and violent countries. If we discover a way to navigate this issue with realism, compassion, and pragmatism, and not political hype, then we might find that we are more united than we ever thought we were.
Here is what we can discern from the data. Democrats should develop a broad narrative that includes both secure borders and humane practices. That is where the majority of Americans are. Here are the specific ideas Democrats may want to begin to message.
Americans are opposed to mass deportation; what Trump is doing is deeply un-American.
Americans don’t want criminal undocumented immigrants in the US. There needs to be tough enforcement for undocumented violent criminals, gang members, and drug dealers.
Americans want a humane program to allow for a pathway toward citizenship for those looking for a better life. Distinguish between asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants. Reform the immigration rules to allow for a pathway.
Americans do not want to see ICE masked agents and National Guard patrol the streets in the US. Americans do not want a police state where people are profiled by the color of their skin.
Americans do not want ICE raids in their neighborhoods to cart off neighbors and friends to detention camps. Americans are opposed to a series of “concentration camps” throughout the United States. It is deeply offensive.
Americans are united against setting up cruel detention centers such as Alligator Alcatraz.
Americans know that immigrants help improve the life and economy of the United States, and that it is the same impetus that motivated our European ancestors to come here. Let’s find a humane way to welcome and incorporate freedom-loving people into the United States.
Stop listening to Donald Trump, and stop listening to the mainstream media….take back the narrative. Propose real reforms and stop dehumanizing immigrants.
Democrats…are you listening?
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Yes, this is all so true. There is a reasonable and right way to do things, and there is an unreasonable and wrong way to do things. Unfortunately, we are seeing the latter being done by this administration. It is time the majority take a stand and demand the reasonable and right way. Good article Dan.