More than half of Americans — including a hefty 42% of Democrats — back mass deportations of illegal immigrants as President Joe Biden’s border crisis rages on, a new poll shows.
Fifty-one percent of those polled said they would support booting the undocumented immigrants, according to the Axios Vibes survey by The Harris Poll released Thursday.
In addition, a large number — 30% of Democrats and 46% of Republicans — signaled support for ending birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
Asked what their greatest fear was surrounding illegal immigrants, 21% of those surveyed cited surging crime rates, drugs and violence as their main concern.
Meanwhile, 32% said the Biden administration was “most responsible” for the current border crisis that’s plaguing the country.
“I was surprised at the public support for large-scale deportations,” said Mark Penn, chairman of The Harris Poll.
“I think they’re just sending a message to politicians: ‘Get this under control’,” he said, noting that it was a warning to Biden that “efforts to shift responsibility for the issue to Trump are not going to work.”
More than 7 million migrants have been encountered by US Customs and Border Protection agents along the southern border since Biden took office in 2021, the latest CBP data shows, including 961,537 in the current fiscal year.
Biden, on his part, has repeatedly tried to blame former President Donald Trump for fueling the crisis by blowing up the Senate’s bipartisan border security bill earlier this year.
He has since signaled he’s now considering the use of executive orders to crack down on migrant crossings at the border as immigration continues to emerge as a top voter concern ahead of the election.
Trump, meanwhile, has made it clear he plans to harshly crackdown on migrant deportations if he is elected and has repeatedly accused his rival of causing a “bloodbath” both across the country.
The Harris Poll was taken March through April and surveyed 6,251 US adults within +/- 1.5 percentage points using a 95% confidence level.