Image CreditBreccan F. Thies / The Federalist
No matter how much left-wing agitators want to riot to oppose enforcing immigration law, the American people still support Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and deporting illegals.
That is the takeaway from a new Harvard/Harris poll taken in the middle of the Los Angeles anti-ICE riots that have been excused by Democrat leadership like city Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
In fact, 80 percent of respondents in the poll support a plan to deport criminal illegal aliens, which clocks in at the second most popular overall policy proposal (of 15) after lowering prescription drug prices for the elderly and low-income Americans. When asked more specifically if respondents favored what the Trump administration is doing to achieve the deportations, 74 percent agreed, including 57 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of independents.
The fifth most popular policy proposal is closing “the border with added security and policies that discourage illegal crossings,” with 67 percent support.
While the general goals of immigration enforcement are supported by a majority of Americans, Democrats have tried to demonize ICE and President Donald Trump’s decision to send in the National Guard to protect ICE agents and provide riot control.
Fifty-six percent of Americans favor Trump calling in the National Guard to “help suppress anti-ICE riots,” including a majority of independents and nearly 30% of Democrats.
A majority (55 percent) also said Trump should “deploy the national guard to protect federal agents and property when local city and state law enforcement won’t act.” Similarly, 71 percent of respondents want local police to help ICE if they get attacked by rioters, and 65 percent of Democrats agree.
These views, including from Democrats, are bolstered by separate polling that shows Trump well above water on approval for his immigration policies, with 49 percent approving and only 33 percent disapproving. That poll found that about 25% of Americans who voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris also support Trump’s immigration policies.
The Harvard/Harris poll does appear to have some ideological inconsistencies, however, which are difficult to decipher.
For example, only 41 percent of respondents believe that Democrat elected officials of the so-called “sanctuary cities” are encouraging violence against federal immigration enforcement officers. While 67 percent of Republicans believe they are, 59 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of independents do not believe that is the case.
Bass, for her part, effectively threatened more violence and resistance to ICE officers unless and until they leave Los Angeles, as The Federalist reported.
That being said, a majority (54 percent) of respondents also favored an approach of waiting to see how Trump’s immigration enforcement policies play out over the next two weeks, as opposed to going full opposition mode against Trump. Seventy-six percent of Democrats want to go full resistance mode, while 80 percent of Republicans want to wait and see, along with 58 percent of independents.
In another seemingly incoherent response, in the context of the other statistics, 55 percent of respondents also blame the Trump administration’s immigration policies and sending the National Guard for contributing to the riots in Los Angeles, where 45 percent blames Bass and Newsom for “calling to resist federal agents and not deploying the police to stop violence.”
That being said, Bass’s and Newsom’s favorability ratings are extraordinarily low, at 17 percent and 29 percent, respectively.
Breccan F. Thies is a correspondent for The Federalist. He previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.
