A Friday CNN panel attempted to minimize a Fox News poll published Thursday that found 63% of Americans support deporting illegal immigrants.
President Donald Trump pledged during his 2024 presidential campaign that he would conduct mass deportations if reelected, an agenda that also has majority support, according to a Scripps News/Ipsos poll published in September. However, PBS News Hour White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López and journalist Peter Hamby suggested on “Inside Politics with Dana Bash” that deporting illegal immigrants may not be as popular as the polling indicates following a segment by immigration correspondent Priscilla Alvarez about the family members of those Trump deported on Saturday in planes to El Salvador.
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“I think that obviously the president has kind of blanketed the airwaves with saying that all of these people deported are criminals. And given the fact that we reporters like Priscilla or I, we have very limited information to who exactly has been deported, the government has not handed over names,” Barrón-López said. “I know CBS got a hold of a list of names, but that hasn’t been provided to those who are asking for who was actually deported. And there is a difference between someone who came into the country illegally versus someone who overstayed their visa. That’s not a crime versus someone who has no criminal record, no criminal history.”
“And based on my reporting, based on clearly Priscilla’s reporting, there are some Venezuelan nationals whose family members whose lawyers say that they were deported, who have no criminal record, who have no criminal history, that they legally applied for asylum or were trying to gain status where some of them were in the middle of proceedings,” she continued. “And then they were deported to El Salvador. And now their lawyers, their family members can’t reach them.”
The Trump administration used the Alien Enemies Act on Saturday to send two planes reportedly carrying members of Tren de Aragua (TdA) to El Salvador. El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele verified Sunday that his country received 238 members of TdA and 23 MS-13 members.
Fox News’ poll requested participants record whether they “favor” or “oppose” deporting illegal immigrants to their home countries.
“So sometimes I think it’s also the way we ask those questions in polls, which is, are we framing it as they are illegal immigrants, or are we, you know, splitting it up and saying some of these people overstay visas,” Barrón-López added. “That’s not illegal. Some were in the process of claiming asylum. Are Americans opposed to all those different types of immigrants that have been living in this country, in some cases, for decades?”
CNN anchor Dana Bash said Barrón-López made “a very fair point” and accused the Trump administration of not being transparent with its deportations.
“I was thinking just that. A lot of political fights are academic and opaque to a lot of the American public,” Hamby said. “And if you look back on Donald Trump’s first term, the moments when he really saw big public backlash were moments that were accompanied by images, videos, stories of people, child separation being a good example, January 6th being a good example. You see the videos.”
“And then Laura made a good point too, which is when you start to split hairs on immigration, the vast majority of Americans want criminals deported, but those numbers shrink when it gets into do you support separating families who have been here?” he added. “Do you support deporting people who have been here 10 years? Support for that is pretty low. Do you support people who have been here two years? Support gets higher.”
https://dailycaller.com/2025/03/21/cnn-panel-downplay-poll-showing-americans-support-deporting-illegal-immigrants/
