AAPI adults mostly think Trump has done more harm than good on immigration: Survey

Most Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders believe President Donald Trump has done more harm than good on the issue of immigration and border security in his second term so far, according to a new AAPI Data/AP-NORC poll.

About 6 in 10 AAPI adults say Trump has hurt immigration and border security “a lot” or “a little,” according to the survey from AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, compared with about 4 in 10 US adults in a January AP-NORC survey. About two-thirds of AAPI adults — who are generally more likely to be Democrats than US adults overall - also say Trump has “gone too far” when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the US illegally, compared with about half of Americans in general.

Trump’s administration has instituted sweeping immigration measures since he took office, but the past two months have been especially tumultuous. This past January, Trump suspended processing immigrant visas for citizens of 75 countries. Arrests at the US-Mexico border have fallen dramatically, but the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests and detentions have soared. In December 2024, daily detentions averaged just under 40,000. Last month, they numbered about 70,000.  The survey was conducted on the heels of the January fatal shootings by ICE agents of two US citizens and their detainment of a Hmong American man — clad only in his underwear— in freezing temperatures.

These immigration crackdowns hit close to home for Jeff Ugai, who lives in Hawaii. On his island, Kauai, nearly four dozen people were arrested in November in immigration raids.

“It seems like the current administration’s efforts have been more almost about cruelty than they have about actually establishing an immigration system that makes sense to this country,” said Ugai, 39, who is a Democrat.

AAPI adults, one of the fastest-growing demographics in the US, broadly don’t support Trump’s tough tactics on immigration, the poll found. A separate AAPI Data/AP-NORC survey last fall found that unhappiness about Trump’s immigration approach had risen from earlier in the year.

“We’re also seeing opposition to policies that may not involve violence or violations of due process, but still involve things like banning immigrants from entire countries where there is a history of visa overstays or deporting immigrants who are married to US citizens,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder and executive director of AAPI Data. In this poll, around 4 in 10 AAPI adults say deporting immigrants living in the US illegally should be a low priority for the US Government, an increase from about one-third just after Trump took office. About one-third of AAPI adults now say these deportations should be a moderate priority, and only about 2 in 10 say they should be a high priority.

Fran Peace, 75, of Oroville, California, still sees deporting immigrants here illegally as a high priority. But the Japanese American retiree disagrees with stopping people based on “stereotypes” like their looks or if they have an accent. She also is open to a citizenship path for those who’ve lived here for years and haven’t committed a crime.