More Americans support path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants with no criminal background, UMass poll finds

Boston Globe

a day ago

But a strong majority, 69 percent, support deporting undocumented immigrants who have criminal records, according to the release. This is down from an
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'These results suggest that the Trump administration, if it desires to be in step with the public that they represent, should emphasize the detention and removal of undocumented immigrants with criminal records,' Tatishe Nteta, provost professor of political science at UMASS and the poll's director, said in the release.
The Trump Administration has vowed to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, and has authorized aggressive enforcement tactics, such as raiding schools, churches and other venues that have long been safe havens for immigrants.
The poll also found that only 30 percent supported deporting undocumented immigrants who work full time and pay taxes. Around 37 percent of poll respondents supported deporting undocumented immigrants who had no criminal record outside of their immigration status and 33 percent of respondents supported deporting those whose children were born in the U.S.
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The poll found that Americans support protections for legal immigrants as well. A majority of respondents said that immigrants on valid visas should be entitled to constitutional rights that citizens enjoy like freedom of speech. A minority of respondents thought legal immigrants, like international students involved in protests, should be deported for expressing opposition to American foreign policy. The poll also found bipartisan opposition to reducing federal spending on scientific research at universities and requiring colleges to consider ideological diversity in hiring and admissions, according to the release.
The poll of 1000 national respondents was conducted by the website YouGov between July 25 and July 30 and the margin of error for the poll was 3.5 percent.
A little over 50 percent of respondents oppose immigration enforcement in churches, schools and hospitals but public opinion is split when it comes to enforcement elsewhere.
For example, around 43 percent of respondents supported immigration enforcement at home and 40 percent at workplaces, according to the results.
There was a big partisan gap on the question of where immigration enforcement was acceptable with 65 percent of Republicans supporting immigration enforcement at churches and hospitals while support for enforcement at these venues among Democrats was in the single digits.
Around 70 percent of poll respondents said that immigrants in the country on valid visas should be entitled to the constitutional rights that citizens have such as freedom of speech, the right to an attorney when accused of a crime and the right to a hearing before a judge before deportation, among others.
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Around 22 percent of respondents opposed deporting legal immigrants on the basis of their opposition to American foreign policy, an objective the Trump administration has been pursuing when it comes to international students like Tufts University PhD candidate, Rümeysa Öztürk who expressed opposition to the war in Gaza. Support for these deportations was higher among Republicans, conservatives and Trump voters, but did not exceed 50 percent in those groups.
Angela Mathew can be reached at