More Americans say US is no longer welcoming to immigrants, according to new survey | US immigration
Donald Trump’s aggressive and far-reaching immigration control agenda has convinced a growing number of adults that the United States is no longer a welcoming country for foreigners, according to a new poll.
About six in 10 respondents to last month’s Associated Press-NORC poll say the country was once a great place for immigrants but is no longer.
Another third said they or someone they knew personally had been affected by the Trump administration’s crackdown in the previous 12 months, representing about 60% of Hispanic adults.
Nearly half of Hispanic adults who responded said they began carrying proof of their U.S. citizenship or permanent residency out of fear of being detained or deported by federal immigration agencies.
The sweeping poll paints a damning portrait of changing opinions in the 14 months since Trump returned to the White House and embarked on his long-threatened “largest deportation operation in U.S. history.”
Trump has sent thousands of immigration agents, sometimes backed by the U.S. military, to several cities and states to illegally stop and arrest people in the country, often with violent results.
In separate incidents in Minneapolis in January, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two unarmed U.S. citizens protesting government actions, were shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents.
“That’s just not true,” said Reid Gibson, 72, a retiree from Missouri, in his survey response. “It’s no longer a good country for immigrants. »
The survey finds that only a quarter of adults still think the United States is welcoming to immigrants, while about one in ten think it never has been.
A question about the right to citizenship, which Trump attempted to eliminate through an executive order blocked by federal courts and now under deliberation by U.S. Supreme Court justices, drew mixed responses.
Overall, 65% think all children born in the United States should be eligible for citizenship, regardless of their parents’ status, and 75% think the same for children whose noncitizen parents are legally present in the United States on a work visa.
But only 49% think that should be the case for children born in the United States to parents residing in the country illegally. Trump’s executive order aims to limit U.S. citizenship to those with at least one parent who is already a citizen.
The AP said it found that Democrats were more likely than independents or Republicans to know someone affected by Trump’s crackdown, and that those with a personal connection were more likely to say the United States is no longer a great place for immigrants.
Kathy Bailey, a 79-year-old Democrat from Illinois, said she has seen the administration’s immigration policies seep into the swimming lessons she takes regularly in a small town. She said two women in the class, both naturalized U.S. citizens, began carrying their passports when they left home.
Bailey said one of the women, from Latin America, was particularly worried about standing out in a predominantly white community.
“She’s a U.S. citizen now, but she’s so scared she has to carry her passport,” Bailey said. “She’s just another nice old grandma who swims at five in the morning.”
Nick Grivas, 40, said his grandfather’s Greek immigration two generations ago made him more aware of Trump’s policies and that he thought the United States had ceased to be a promising place for people seeking a new life.
“We can see how we treat children and the children of immigrants, and we don’t see them as potential future Americans,” said Grivas, a Massachusetts resident.
He said he believed new arrivals would be deterred from investing in their local communities if they feared eviction.
“You’re less willing to commit to the project if you don’t think you can stay,” he said.
