{"id":656963,"date":"2026-02-03T00:30:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T05:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/?p=656963"},"modified":"2026-02-02T19:59:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T00:59:36","slug":"trump-loses-support-on-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump loses support on immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Trump is finding out that there is a significant difference between policy and practice when it comes to immigration.<\/p>\n

A Pew Research Poll<\/em> <\/a>two months before the 2024 election found that six in ten voters said immigration was a very important issue to them.\u00a0 That was a winning<\/strong> issue for Trump who promised tightened border security and mass deportation.<\/p>\n

That support carried over into the early months of Trump\u2019s second term as border crossings fell to record lows.\u00a0 It represented a fulfillment of one aspect of his campaign promises on immigration.<\/p>\n

However, the mass deportations have been a different story.<\/a><\/p>\n

The shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by ICE agents in Minneapolis have sent shock waves<\/a> throughout the nation.\u00a0 It is one thing to stop people from illegally crossing the border, but it is quite another when armed agents of the government shoot American citizens at point-blank range.<\/p>\n

Trump administration representatives made matters worse by lying about the circumstances of the shootings and blaming the victims. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem initially suggested<\/a> the shooting of Pretti was justified, claiming he attacked officers and \u201cwished to inflict harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reasonable citizens watched the videos and concluded for themselves that neither Pretti nor Good looked like \u201cdomestic terrorists.\u201d Noem has backed away from her earlier statements and Trump, realizing he\u2019s losing support, has put border czar Tom Homan<\/a> in charge of the Minneapolis operations in hopes of lowering the temperature.<\/p>\n

The specter of heavily armed and masked agents rounding up individuals and shoving them into vehicles is unnerving. It looks profoundly un-American. Ironically, the actions of an overzealous police state are exactly what the far right always warns about. Even the National Rifle Association<\/a> pushed back on administration statements questioning Pretti\u2019s right to carry a gun.<\/p>\n

The polls now reflect a significant shift in America\u2019s views of Trump on immigration and border security.\u00a0 For example:<\/p>\n

A Reuters Poll<\/em> <\/a>after the shootings found that just 39 percent approve of the job Trump is doing on immigration, while 53 percent disapprove.\u00a0 Fifty-eight percent say ICE agents have gone \u201ctoo far\u201d in their crackdown.<\/p>\n

A YouGov Poll<\/em><\/a> found that 55 percent of Americans have very little confidence in ICE.\u00a0 Independents, who helped elect Trump made the biggest swing.\u00a0 Sixty-seven percent say they have little confidence in ICE, up from 49 percent a month ago.<\/p>\n

Even a poll by Fox News<\/em><\/a> determined that most voters questioned ICE tactics.\u00a0 Fifty-nine percent characterized ICE as “too aggressive,” an increase of ten percentage points from last July.\u00a0 Only 29 percent said ICE “almost always” carries out Trump’s pledge to remove illegals with criminal records.<\/p>\n

Mass deportations cast a wide net.\u00a0 Few would argue with rounding up hardened criminals who are in the country illegally and shipping them out.\u00a0 However, research shows serious offenders make up only a fraction of the detainees, which is counter to the Trump administration’s claims that the mass deportations are focusing on the worst of the worst.<\/p>\n

Syracuse University professor Austin Kocher tracks ICE data, and his findings were reported in a Wall Street Journal<\/em> editorial<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cBetween September 21, 2025, and Jan. 7, 2026, single-day ICE detentions increased 11,296. But only 902 of those were convicted criminals, 2,273 had pending criminal charges, and 8,121 were other immigrant violators.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump understood during the campaign that border security and illegal immigration were an issue that resonated with most Americans, and he has followed through on his promises.\u00a0 However, the ugly and violent practice of mass deportation has been a tragic failure that has turned most Americans against Trump on the issue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Trump is finding out that there is a significant difference between policy and practice when it comes to immigration. A Pew Research Poll two months before the 2024 election found that six in ten voters said immigration was a very important issue to them.\u00a0 That was a winning issue for Trump who promised tightened<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-656963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-hoppys-commentary"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump loses support on immigration - WV MetroNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump loses support on immigration - WV MetroNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Trump is finding out that there is a significant difference between policy and practice when it comes to immigration. A Pew Research Poll two months before the 2024 election found that six in ten voters said immigration was a very important issue to them.\u00a0 That was a winning issue for Trump who promised tightened\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WV MetroNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-03T05:30:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-03T00:59:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/metronews-plug.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"885\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"485\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hoppy Kercheval\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@HoppyKercheval\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hoppy Kercheval\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/\",\"name\":\"Trump loses support on immigration - WV MetroNews\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-03T05:30:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-03T00:59:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#\/schema\/person\/0f76ac4b8d0eeb096fb72cdf9f53a3c4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trump loses support on immigration\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/\",\"name\":\"WV MetroNews\",\"description\":\"The Voice of West Virginia\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#\/schema\/person\/0f76ac4b8d0eeb096fb72cdf9f53a3c4\",\"name\":\"Hoppy Kercheval\",\"description\":\"The radio \u201cdean\u201d of West Virginia broadcasters, Hoppy Kercheval joined West Virginia Radio Corporation in 1976.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/@HoppyKercheval\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/author\/hkercheval\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump loses support on immigration - WV MetroNews","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trump loses support on immigration - WV MetroNews","og_description":"President Trump is finding out that there is a significant difference between policy and practice when it comes to immigration. A Pew Research Poll two months before the 2024 election found that six in ten voters said immigration was a very important issue to them.\u00a0 That was a winning issue for Trump who promised tightened","og_url":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/","og_site_name":"WV MetroNews","article_published_time":"2026-02-03T05:30:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-03T00:59:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":885,"height":485,"url":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/metronews-plug.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hoppy Kercheval","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@HoppyKercheval","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hoppy Kercheval","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/","url":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/","name":"Trump loses support on immigration - WV MetroNews","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-02-03T05:30:51+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-03T00:59:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#\/schema\/person\/0f76ac4b8d0eeb096fb72cdf9f53a3c4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/02\/03\/trump-loses-support-on-immigration\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trump loses support on immigration"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/","name":"WV MetroNews","description":"The Voice of West Virginia","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#\/schema\/person\/0f76ac4b8d0eeb096fb72cdf9f53a3c4","name":"Hoppy Kercheval","description":"The radio \u201cdean\u201d of West Virginia broadcasters, Hoppy Kercheval joined West Virginia Radio Corporation in 1976.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/@HoppyKercheval"],"url":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/author\/hkercheval\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656963"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656963"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":657158,"href":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656963\/revisions\/657158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}