Deportations: The growing backlash

A protest against ICE in Oxnard, California — The White House has "shown few signs of slowing" its immigration sweeps

(Image credit: Getty Images)

President Trump suddenly has an immigration problem, said Blake Jones and Dustin Gardiner in Politico. He was "plowing through" California's resistance to his mass deportation program until a federal judge blocked ICE's "roving" arrests in Los Angeles. The judge ruled that the agency was illegally grabbing people off the street solely based on their race, accent, or type of job. Days earlier, major ICE raids on two licensed cannabis farms triggered "heated protests" and chaos as tear gas was fired into a large crowd; more than 300 people were arrested, and a migrant died after falling from the roof of a greenhouse. Public opinion on mass deportation is "souring" amid images of masked agents roughing up migrants and heart-wrenching stories of longtime U.S. residents without criminal records being torn from family members and communities.

Polls show a real backlash to Trump's crackdown, said Dan Gooding in Newsweek. A new Gallup survey found that a record-high 79% of voters consider immigration a net positive for the U.S. Only 30% want immigration levels to decrease, down from 55% last year. "The drop was even starker among Republicans," from 88% to 48%. "The realities of enforcement," including the detention of immigrants performing valuable work in communities, have led to a major swing in views on Trump's immigration policies, with 62% disapproving and just 35% in favor. Overall support for "deporting all immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally" has fallen to 38%.

Trump already "solved" the border crisis, said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial, with the number of illegal crossings falling to a record low. But "compassionate" voters don't want farmworkers, roofers, and restaurant workers who've been living and working in the U.S. for years rounded up, detained in camps, and deported. Yes, most Americans "want a country of laws," but they also "shrink from harsh roundup tactics" and "don't want to break up families." Nonetheless, the White House has "shown few signs of slowing" its immigration sweeps, said Hannah Fry in the Los Angeles Times. The Justice Department quickly appealed the judge's injunction against mass roundups, and Kristi Noem, Trump's Homeland Security chief, vowed last week to intensify the crackdowns. "We're going to come harder and faster," she said, "and we're going to take these criminals down with even more strength than we ever have before."