Trump’s Deportation Policy Deepens Partisan Divide, Poll Finds

(UNITED STATES) A new Pew Research Center poll conducted June 2-8, 2025 finds that Trump’s deportation program is splitting Americans cleanly along party lines, with 78% of Republicans approving of his immigration approach and 81% of Democrats disapproving. The survey, released as the White House continues aggressive enforcement actions, also reports that most Americans think Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents should not wear masks during raids, a practice that has stirred protests and confusion in several cities.

The partisan gap is stark across nearly every measure tested in the Pew Research Center poll. Just 12% of Republicans disapprove of the president’s immigration policy, while only 9% of Democrats approve. Overall approval for President Trump stands at 41%, with 47% disapproving of his administration’s immigration approach. Views on specific pieces of immigration policy also show broad resistance among the general public: 60% disapprove of suspending most asylum applications; 59% disapprove of ending Temporary Protected Status for people fleeing war or disaster; and 54% disapprove of stepped-up ICE raids at workplaces.

Although the poll’s summary does not provide a precise number for the question of masks, it states that most Americans do not want ICE agents to wear facial coverings during enforcement actions. The issue has taken on symbolic weight, in part because public-facing summaries of recent enforcement practices note that

“ICE agents conducting raids frequently travel in unmarked vehicles, wear plainclothes and facial coverings, and refuse to identify themselves or present warrants,”

which critics say fuels fear and distrust. The quotation reflects the pattern that has contributed to controversy over tactics used in cities like Los Angeles, where high-profile raids have drawn crowds and cellphone videos.

Perceptions of the pace of enforcement have shifted as well. According to the Pew Research Center poll, 79% of Republicans and 69% of Democrats believe deportations have increased in 2025. The same survey reports that 58% of Americans think fewer people are reaching the U.S. border to request asylum this year. Support for expanding the border wall sits at 56% overall, with 88% of Republicans in favor compared to 27% of Democrats, another illustration of how immigration policy has hardened into a party-line fight.

The numbers land as the administration points to rising enforcement totals. By August 28, 2025, ICE said nearly 200,000 deportations had been carried out in the seven months since President Trump returned to office. Officials have separately claimed that 2 million people lacking legal status left the country in 2025, including more than 400,000 deportations and an estimated 1.6 million so-called self-deportations. Those headline figures, and the imagery of agents in masks at doors in the predawn dark, have put enforcement front and center as a political issue heading into the fall.

Media commentary has both reflected and amplified the divide. Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, said on MSNBC:

“51% of the country say that Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement actions have gone too far”

and noted that

“a lot of Americans are surprised by, or shocked by or upset about… the idea that it’s not just about murderers and rapists and criminals, but about, you know, everyday people who are trying to make a living… There are people in their communities that they know who have been affected, who they didn’t think of as being criminals.”

For supporters of Trump’s deportation program, the stepped-up actions are overdue and necessary; for opponents, the approach is sweeping too widely and relying on tactics they view as needlessly aggressive.

The Pew report itself encapsulates the political split with a blunt summary:

“Evaluations… largely split along partisan lines, with Republicans broadly supportive and Democrats opposed.”

That split extends beyond the topline approval numbers into almost every policy detail tested. The disapproval majorities on suspending most asylum applications and ending Temporary Protected Status show how individual elements of the immigration agenda can run into public skepticism even as many Republicans back tougher enforcement overall. The 54% disapproval of increased ICE workplace raids underscores the point, suggesting a public wary of tactics that can sweep up long-settled employees without criminal records alongside people with recent immigration violations.

Another national poll in June adds more texture to the picture. A Gallup survey reports that 35% of Americans approve of President Trump’s handling of immigration, while 62% disapprove. In that poll, 85% of Republicans approve compared to 2% of Democrats; approval among Hispanic adults is 21%, against 35% nationally. The Gallup numbers, taken together with the Pew Research Center poll, highlight just how tightly views of immigration policy are tied to partisanship and how salient the issue is among different communities.

The mask question has turned into a flashpoint partly because it intersects with the experiences people report during raids. While the polling summaries do not provide the exact share saying ICE should go unmasked, the direction of opinion is clear enough to shape the debate. Community groups and local officials have complained that plainclothes teams arriving in unmarked vehicles, sometimes wearing facial coverings, make it harder for residents to verify badges and warrants, and easier for rumors to spread in neighborhoods. The insistence on anonymity, supporters counter, protects agents and helps avoid retaliation after dangerous arrests. The broader public, according to the polling summaries, leans against mask use in enforcement.

Whether mask-wearing changes, the administration has embraced visible enforcement as a centerpiece of immigration policy. Trump’s deportation program features more door-to-door operations, additional workplace checks, and a tightened approach to asylum at the border. The Pew Research Center poll finds that a majority of Americans, 60%, disapprove of suspending most asylum applications, and 59% disapprove of ending Temporary Protected Status protections for people who fled conflict or natural disasters. Those are specific policies with immediate effects. People with TPS from countries hit by war or disaster weigh whether to uproot families again, while people with pending asylum claims confront longer waits or closed doors, depending on how the suspensions are implemented.

The divide over the border wall hints at different visions of control versus openness. Overall support at 56% masks a huge partisan gap: 88% of Republicans back expansion while only 27% of Democrats do. That gap mirrors the split over workplace raids and asylum, where Republicans are far more likely to prioritize deterrence and Democrats to emphasize legal pathways and humanitarian protections. It also tracks with the perception data: most Republicans and a large share of Democrats, 79% and 69% respectively, say deportations have increased this year, suggesting both sides see and feel the ramp-up even as they interpret it differently.

On the ground, the enforcement numbers cited by the administration are fueling both fear and applause. The claim of 2 million departures in 2025 — more than 400,000 formal deportations and about 1.6 million people leaving on their own — frames the White House message that the system is finally “working.” As of late August, ICE’s own reporting of nearly 200,000 deportations in seven months gives a concrete tally for one part of that claim. Those figures have become reference points in local debates from California to Texas. In Los Angeles, where recent high-profile operations drew protests, local leaders have urged restraint and transparency, while sheriffs and some city officials elsewhere say the approach is restoring order.

Polling suggests many Americans are uneasy with how that order is being pursued. Disapproval of increased workplace raids hints at anxiety over scenes of agents arriving at factories or farms and loading buses with workers as children wait for parents who never return home that night. Public resistance to suspending asylum points to an electorate concerned about closing doors to people fleeing danger while still wanting control at the border. The bottom line in the Pew Research Center poll — that evaluations break along party lines — sits on top of more complicated feelings about how far enforcement should go and whom it should target.

The political stakes are obvious. Immigration policy helped define Trump’s first term and is again a central theme. For the White House, the 78% approval among Republicans for its immigration approach is a sign the base is satisfied. For Democrats, the 81% disapproval among their voters suggests a potent issue to mobilize around, especially with images and accounts of masked agents becoming shorthand for a broader critique of heavy-handed tactics. In mixed communities, where neighbors disagree over whether raids keep streets safe or tear families apart, the polling finds common ground on at least one point: most Americans do not want agents wearing masks during enforcement.

Anecdotes like those flagged by Peter Baker offer a window into why.

“51% of the country say that Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement actions have gone too far,”

he said, adding that

“a lot of Americans are surprised by, or shocked by or upset about… the idea that it’s not just about murderers and rapists and criminals, but about, you know, everyday people who are trying to make a living… There are people in their communities that they know who have been affected, who they didn’t think of as being criminals.”

That sentiment runs alongside persistent frustration among many Republicans who believe prior administrations did not enforce the law, and who see stepped-up removals as overdue.

The details in the polls underscore how public opinion can move issue by issue even within a deeply polarized environment. People telling pollsters they support a border wall or believe deportations have increased can also tell them they oppose suspending most asylum or ending TPS. For policymakers, that means choices about tactics — masks, unmarked vehicles, identification at the door — and priorities — workplace raids versus targeted arrests of people with criminal records — carry their own political and social risks beyond the broader question of border control.

For those living the policies, the practical stakes are immediate. Families where one parent lacks legal status make contingency plans in case of an arrest on the way to work. Businesses brace for audits and on-site checks. Local officials try to interpret what increased federal activity means for city services and public safety. The friction shows up in schools and clinics as well as at the edges of factories and farm fields. It is here, away from national polls, that the debate over immigration policy and enforcement tactics becomes part of everyday life.

The coming months will test whether public discomfort with certain tactics causes any shift in how enforcement is carried out or explained. Even without exact percentages on masks, the direction of opinion reported in the Pew Research Center poll is clear, and it may push federal agencies to emphasize identification and transparency when practical. ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations unit says it targets those who pose a threat to public safety and national security, a mandate that critics argue is stretched too broadly. The agency’s public materials describe how arrests and removals work and what officers can and cannot do during operations; the official overview can be found on the ICE site at Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) ICE ERO overview.

For now, the data points continue to accumulate. The Gallup figures — 35% approval and 62% disapproval of the president’s handling of immigration, with just 2% approval among Democrats and 21% among Hispanic adults — sit alongside the Pew Research Center poll’s more detailed attitudinal findings. Together they capture an electorate that remains deeply split over Trump’s deportation program and the broader immigration policy that surrounds it. And as the quote from the Pew report puts it plainly,

“Evaluations… largely split along partisan lines, with Republicans broadly supportive and Democrats opposed.”

The question for both sides is whether that split narrows as enforcement evolves — or hardens further as the most visible tactics, including mask-wearing by agents, continue to draw a public that mostly wants to see faces.