President Trump’s immigration agenda has reached a turning point, as the administration expands the group of immigrants it has targeted for removal, quarrels with judges and wades into risky political territory. Trump spent his first weeks in office emphasizing a mass deportation aimed at criminals in the U.S. illegally. Last week, immigration agents arrested a Lebanese doctor on a legal visa, despite a court order blocking her immediate removal. That followed the detention of German tourists, a former Columbia University student with a green card and immigrants married to U.S. citizens or have long lived in the U.S. As the administration targeted Venezuelans last weekend who it said are affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang, they used an archaic, war-time law to round them up and ignored a judge’s order to halt deportation flights, Politico reports.
The striking shift has captured the public’s attention and is likely to define Trump’s strategy as he looks to convey progress on his lagging promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. The expanded list of targets — especially immigrants married to U.S. citizens — carries political risks on an issue that has been a strength for the president. “Public opinion varies dramatically depending on the kind of illegal immigrant you’re talking about,” said GOP pollster Whit Ayres, adding that some undocumented immigrants, including those who came to the U.S. as children, tend to garner much more public sympathy in surveys than others.
A Washington Post-Ipsos poll found overwhelming support for deporting undocumented immigrants who have committed violent crimes, with a solid majority also backing removal of those accused of nonviolent offenses. There’s a downturn in support when Americans are asked about deporting immigrants who have only broken immigration laws, those who have lived in the U.S. for more than a decade, and immigrants who arrived as children or are parents of children who are U.S. citizens. “We can all get behind deporting violent criminals,” said Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY). “But there’s a lot of moderate Republicans that are concerned that they may be jumping the shark, as they say — they may be going a little too far on some of these things.”