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Border security is popular – but that may be the limit of US immigration consensus: AP-NORC poll

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Border security is popular – but that may be the limit of US immigration consensus: AP-NORC poll
News

News

Border security is popular – but that may be the limit of US immigration consensus: AP-NORC poll

2025-01-23 00:38 Last Updated At:00:41

WASHINGTON (AP) — Many U.S. adults are on board with the idea of beefing up security at the southern border and undertaking some targeted deportations, according to a new poll. But as President Donald Trump begins his second term with a series of sweeping executive orders on immigration, the findings suggest his actions may quickly push the country beyond the limited consensus that exists on the issue.

There is a clear desire for some kind of action on U.S.-Mexico border security, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Half of U.S. adults think increasing security at the border should be a high priority for the federal government, according to the poll, and about 3 in 10 say it should be a moderate priority. Just 2 in 10, roughly, consider it a low priority.

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A yucca plant is backdropped by the border wall in Sunland Park, N.M., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

A yucca plant is backdropped by the border wall in Sunland Park, N.M., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

A Border Patrol truck rides along the border wall in Sunland Park, N.M., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

A Border Patrol truck rides along the border wall in Sunland Park, N.M., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

The border wall between Mexico, left, and the United States is pictured in Sunland Park, N.M., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025 in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

The border wall between Mexico, left, and the United States is pictured in Sunland Park, N.M., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025 in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

Katie Leonard, an organizer for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, is shown outside the apartment buildings at the center of an immigration controversy Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Aurora, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Katie Leonard, an organizer for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, is shown outside the apartment buildings at the center of an immigration controversy Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Aurora, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

A sign that prohibits the entrance of ICE or Homeland Security is posted on a door at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A sign that prohibits the entrance of ICE or Homeland Security is posted on a door at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A sign that prohibits the entrance of ICE or Homeland Security is posted on a door at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A sign that prohibits the entrance of ICE or Homeland Security is posted on a door at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building can be seen Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in downtown Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building can be seen Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in downtown Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A national guardsman patrols along a stretch of boarder wall, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Brownsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A national guardsman patrols along a stretch of boarder wall, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Brownsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

The vast majority of U.S. adults favor deporting immigrants convicted of violent crimes, and the Trump administration's deportation efforts may begin there. But Trump's initial executive orders have gone far beyond that — including efforts to keep asylum-seekers in Mexico and end automatic citizenship.

And Trump, a Republican, is continuing to signal an aggressive and likely divisive approach, with promises to deport millions of people who entered the country illegally while declaring a “national emergency at our southern border.” About 4 in 10 American adults support deporting all immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, and a similar share are opposed.

Most Americans think local police should cooperate with federal immigration authorities on deportations in at least some cases, but implementation could quickly become unpopular. On Tuesday, the Trump administration threw out policies limiting arrests of migrants in sensitive places like schools and churches, even though a shift to such arrests would be largely unpopular.

Immigration was a key issue in the 2024 election, and the poll indicates that it's still a high priority for many Americans as Trump takes office.

Illegal border crossings soared under Trump's predecessor, President Joe Biden, with border arrests from Mexico reaching a record-high of 250,000 in December 2023. Despite Trump’s claims of an immigrant invasion, crossings have plunged since then, amid increased Mexican enforcement and the Democratic Biden administration’s June 2024 order that dramatically limited asylum claims at the border.

But memories of those rising numbers, and the chaos that ensued when migrants were bused by Republican governors to northern cities, may have helped shape American attitudes. The survey found that about half of Americans think the government is spending “too little” on border security, and the vast majority favor deportations of people who have been convicted of violent crimes.

“I want to see more people coming here legally,” said Manuel Morales, a 60-year-old Democrat who lives near Moline, Illinois. He first came to America by crossing the border illegally from Mexico nearly 40 years ago. “But at the same time, I’m against all these caravans coming (to the border), with thousands and thousands of people at one time,” said Morales, a technician for an internet provider.

He’s deeply sympathetic to migrants who come to the U.S. to escape repression or poverty and feels that too many Americans don’t understand the yearslong efforts required to enter the U.S. legally. Yet, he also believes the number of migrants has simply become too great in the past few years.

“We cannot just receive everybody into this county,” he said.

Trump rarely gives specifics when he calls for mass deportations, but the survey indicates many Americans are conflicted about mass roundups of people living in the U.S. illegally.

Removing immigrants who are in the country illegally and have not committed a violent crime is highly divisive, with only about 4 in 10 U.S. adults in support and slightly more than 4 in 10 opposed.

And relatively few Americans, about 3 in 10, somewhat or strongly favor changing the Constitution so children born in the U.S. are not automatically granted citizenship if their parents are in the country illegally. About 2 in 10 are neutral, and about half are somewhat or strongly opposed.

Doug DeVore is a 57-year-old Republican living in southern Indiana who believes that immigration “went haywire during the Biden administration.”

But the idea of large-scale operations to check people's immigration status makes him uncomfortable.

“I probably wouldn’t be 100% against it,” he said. “But there’s that fine line" between gathering information on people living in the U.S. illegally and automatically deporting them, added DeVore, who works in a candy factory.

As the Trump administration prepares to attack sanctuary jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, the poll finds that the vast majority of U.S. adults think police in their community should cooperate with federal immigration authorities to deport people who are in the country illegally in at least some cases.

Only about 1 in 10 Americans say the local police should never cooperate with federal law enforcement on these deportations.

There's a divide, though, on whether cooperation should happen across the board or if it should happen only sometimes. About two-thirds of Republicans say local police should always cooperate, a view that only about one-quarter of Democrats share. But relatively few Democrats say local police should never cooperate and most, about two-thirds, say cooperation should happen in some cases.

And a wave of arrests could quickly spark a backlash, depending on how they happen. U.S. immigration agents have long abided by guidance that deters arresting parents or students at schools and other sensitive places, but some of Trump’s rhetoric has raised questions about whether those policies will persist.

The poll finds that a shift toward arresting people in the country illegally at places like churches and schools would be highly unpopular. Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults somewhat or strongly favor arresting children who are in the country illegally while they are at school, and a similar share support arresting people who are in the country illegally while they are at church. Solid majorities, about 6 in 10, oppose these kinds of arrests.

Even Republicans aren't fully on board — less than half favor arrests of children in schools or people at church.

Sullivan reported from Minneapolis.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,147 adults was conducted Jan. 9-13, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

A yucca plant is backdropped by the border wall in Sunland Park, N.M., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

A yucca plant is backdropped by the border wall in Sunland Park, N.M., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

A Border Patrol truck rides along the border wall in Sunland Park, N.M., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

A Border Patrol truck rides along the border wall in Sunland Park, N.M., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

The border wall between Mexico, left, and the United States is pictured in Sunland Park, N.M., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025 in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

The border wall between Mexico, left, and the United States is pictured in Sunland Park, N.M., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025 in El Paso, Texas. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

Katie Leonard, an organizer for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, is shown outside the apartment buildings at the center of an immigration controversy Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Aurora, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Katie Leonard, an organizer for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, is shown outside the apartment buildings at the center of an immigration controversy Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Aurora, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

A sign that prohibits the entrance of ICE or Homeland Security is posted on a door at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A sign that prohibits the entrance of ICE or Homeland Security is posted on a door at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A sign that prohibits the entrance of ICE or Homeland Security is posted on a door at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A sign that prohibits the entrance of ICE or Homeland Security is posted on a door at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building can be seen Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in downtown Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building can be seen Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in downtown Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

A national guardsman patrols along a stretch of boarder wall, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Brownsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A national guardsman patrols along a stretch of boarder wall, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Brownsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

MUGHRAQA, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces were withdrawing from a key Gaza corridor on Sunday, Israeli officials and Hamas said, part of Israel's commitments under a tenuous ceasefire deal with Hamas that is moving ahead but faces a major test over whether the sides can negotiate its planned extension.

Israel agreed as part of the truce to remove its forces from the 4-mile (6-kilometer) Netzarim corridor, a strip of land that bisects northern Gaza from the south that Israel used as a military zone during the war.

At the start of the ceasefire last month, Israel began allowing Palestinians to cross Netzarim to head to their homes in the war-battered north, sending hundreds of thousands streaming across Gaza on foot and by car. The withdrawal of forces from the area fulfills another commitment to the deal, which paused the 15-month war.

However, the sides appear to have made little progress on negotiating the deal's second phase, which is meant to extend the truce and lead to the release of more Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sending a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator in talks between the sides, but the mission included low-level officials, sparking speculation that it won’t lead to a breakthrough in extending the truce. Netanyahu is also expected to convene a meeting of key Cabinet ministers this week on the second phase of the deal.

Separately on Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said that a 23-year-old Palestinian woman who was eight months pregnant was fatally shot by Israeli gunfire in the northern occupied West Bank, where Israeli troops have been carrying out a broad operation.

Since it began on Jan. 19, the ceasefire deal has faced repeated obstacles and disagreements between the sides, underscoring its fragility. But it has held, raising hopes that the devastating war that led to seismic shifts in the Middle East may be headed toward an end.

On Sunday, cars heaped with belongings, including water tanks and suitcases, were seen heading north through a road that crosses Netzarim. Under the deal, Israel is supposed to allow the cars to cross through uninspected, and there did not appear to be troops in the vicinity of the road.

Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said the withdrawal showed Hamas had “forced the enemy to submit to our demands" and that it thwarted “Netanyahu’s illusion of achieving total victory.”

The Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss troop movement with the media, did not disclose how many soldiers were withdrawing. Troops currently remain along Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt and a full withdrawal is expected to be negotiated in a later stage of the truce.

During the first 42-day phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is gradually releasing 33 Israeli hostages captured during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack in exchange for a pause in fighting, freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a flood of humanitarian aid to war-battered Gaza. The deal also stipulates that Israeli troops will pull back from populated areas of Gaza as well as the Netzarim corridor.

In the second phase, all remaining living hostages would be released in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a “sustainable calm.” But details beyond that are unclear and repeated stumbling blocks throughout the first phase and the deep mistrust between the sides have cast doubt on whether they can nail down the extension.

Israel has said it won’t agree to a complete withdrawal from Gaza until Hamas’ military and political capabilities are eliminated. Hamas says it won’t hand over the last hostages until Israel removes all troops from the territory.

Netanyahu meanwhile is under heavy pressure from his far-right political allies to resume the war after the first phase so that Hamas, which carried out the deadliest attack on Israelis in their history, can be defeated. He is also facing pressure from Israelis who are eager to see more hostages return home and want to deal to continue, especially after the gaunt appearances of the three male captives freed on Saturday stunned the nation.

Complicating things further is a proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump to relocate the population of Gaza and take ownership of the Palestinian territory. Israel has expressed openness to the idea while Hamas, the Palestinians and the broader Arab world have rejected it outright.

The suggested plan is saddled with moral, legal and practical obstacles. But it may have been proposed as a negotiation tactic by Trump, to try to ratchet up pressure on Hamas or as an opening gambit in a bargaining process aimed at securing a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. That grand deal appeared to be rattled on Sunday as Saudi Arabia condemned remarks by Netanyahu who said Palestinians could create their state in that territory.

Saudi Arabia said his remarks “aim to divert attention from the successive crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are being subjected to.”

In an interview Thursday with Israel’s Channel 14, Netanyahu said: “The Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land over there.”

The war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ attack that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians according to local health authorities who do not differentiate between fighters and noncombatants in their count. Vast parts of the territory have been obliterated in the fighting, leaving many Palestinians returning to damaged or destroyed homes.

Violence has surged in the West Bank throughout the war and has intensified in recent days with an Israeli military operation in the north of the territory. The shooting of the pregnant woman, Sundus Shalabi, happened in the Nur Shams urban refugee camp, a focal point of Israeli operations against Palestinian militants in the territory. The Palestinian Health Ministry also said that Shalabi’s husband was critically wounded by the gunfire.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday the expansion of the Israeli military operation, which started in the city of Jenin several weeks ago. He said the operation was meant to prevent Iran from establishing a foothold in the occupied West Bank.

Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

An Israeli tank is loaded onto a transport truck near the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

An Israeli tank is loaded onto a transport truck near the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli soldiers inside the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli soldiers inside the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli soldiers inside the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli soldiers inside the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

An Israeli tank takes a position near the border with Gaza in southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

An Israeli tank takes a position near the border with Gaza in southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli tanks at a staging area near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli tanks at a staging area near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli soldiers take positions near the border with Gaza in southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli soldiers take positions near the border with Gaza in southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

An Israeli tank near the border with Gaza in southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

An Israeli tank near the border with Gaza in southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli soldiers take positions near destroyed buildings inside the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli soldiers take positions near destroyed buildings inside the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

FILE - Israeli soldiers drive near the northern Gaza Strip border in southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

FILE - Israeli soldiers drive near the northern Gaza Strip border in southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

FILE - Israeli soldiers wave to the camera from an APC as they cross from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)

FILE - Israeli soldiers wave to the camera from an APC as they cross from the Gaza Strip into Israel, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)

Palestinians are seen near destroyed buildings by Israeli bombardments inside the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Palestinians are seen near destroyed buildings by Israeli bombardments inside the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

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