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President Trump’s harsh immigration tactics are taking a political hit as new polls show a majority of Americans feel federal agents have “gone too far” in enforcing immigration laws.
It’s not just Democrats who are concerned, but also independent voters who are expected to play a major role in the upcoming midterm elections.
“The base loves it, but it’s an issue for the independent voters who decide elections in this country,” said Alex Conant, a veteran Republican strategist. “Independents want a strong border and they want to deport criminals, but they’re really uneasy with having masked federal agents going around in neighborhoods, deporting anyone that they see — as the Democrats are portraying it.”
After months of aggressive enforcement, Trump’s signature issue that twice got him elected is now turning into a liability ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
The outcry over what many saw as militant tactics hit a fever pitch after the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by immigration officers in Minnesota.
A new NPR/Marist poll shows that six in 10 Americans disapprove of the job federal immigration agents are doing.
Even typically loyal Republican supporters have called on the Trump administration to make changes and rebuild trust with law enforcement.
“They, being the White House, need to recalibrate on what needs to be done to make sure that that respect is going to be re-instilled,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told conservative radio host Mark Davis.
Trump shook up the leadership of the Minneapolis operation, and directed his team to withdraw 700 federal officers.
“I learned that, maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch,” Trump said in an interview with NBC’s Tom Llamas. “But you still have to be tough. We’re dealing with really hard criminals.”
It’s a bit unclear what a “softer touch” actually means.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt largely defended the administration’s enforcement efforts Thursday and pointed to different polling – from a Harvard/Harris survey – that she said showed support for their “deportation agenda.”
“Nearly eight in ten Americans say criminal illegal aliens should be deported,” she said. “A solid majority also support deporting all illegal aliens, regardless of additional crimes.”
She also said the administration is now prioritizing criminals who are in the country illegally.
Theresa Cardinal Brown, who worked on immigration policy under two presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, said there may be an “operational pause” as the administration retools its efforts, both from a policy standpoint and a public relations standpoint.
“Operationally, you’re not really thinking about politics as you’re putting together an operation, said Brown, now a member of the Council on National Security and Immigration. “But politics comes into everything, right?”
She points to the announcement that body cameras would be deployed to federal immigration officers in Minneapolis, noting that while video can uncover when officers are doing something wrong, body cameras can also vindicate officers when they have done the right thing.
“I do think that probably the administration is thinking, ‘well, if we had body cam footage of our own, we could put our own perspective on it,’ ” she said.
Trump has a big incentive to get a handle on this crisis — and to do so quickly.
Conant, who previously worked on Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign, said Trump has left an opening for Democrats to sound more reasonable on immigration ahead of the midterms.
“If he loses the immigration issue as a political winner, it’s a real political problem,” Conant said, “not just for Trump, but Republicans more broadly.”
