Immigration

MSNBC - For the past 50 years, Gallup has measured Americans’ preferred rate of immigration based on three options: “should immigration be kept at its present level, increased or decreased?”

Last year, 55% of Americans said that immigration rates should be decreased. Now, that number has dropped down to 30%, the same as it was in 2021, when those rates began to climb. Another 38% of Americans think it should be kept at the same level, up from 26% last year, and 26% think it should be increased — a 10-point jump from the same time in 2024.

The shift seen among Republicans and independents is particularly noteworthy, as Gallup analyst Lydia Saad wrote:

With illegal immigration levels down dramatically and refugee programs suspended, the desire for less immigration has fallen among all party groups, but it is most pronounced among Republicans, down 40 percentage points over the past year to 48%. Among independents, this sentiment is down 21 points to 30%, and among Democrats, down 12 points to 16%. Republicans are the only group still showing at least plurality support for reducing immigration. Independents are most likely to favor maintaining current levels, while a plurality of Democrats favor increasing it.

At the same time, a record-high 79% of Americans now say that immigration is good for the country, compared to a record-low 17% who say otherwise. Accordingly, we’re also seeing a broader shift in support away from enforcement policies against undocumented immigrants and toward a pathway to citizenship for them. This poll showed 78% of all people surveyed supporting the latter, an 8-point jump. But crucially, there’s now a majority of support among self-identified Republicans (59%!) for a pathway to citizenship.

 NBC News - People being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers in at least seven states are complaining of hunger, food shortages and spoiled food, detainees and immigration advocates say. Some detainees have gotten sick and others have lost weight, they say....

The problems with food come amid overcrowding at ICE facilities tied to the Trump administration’s push to quickly ramp up immigration arrests. While capacity data isn’t publicly available for every ICE detention facility, nationwide figures on the availability of beds show a system beyond its overall capacity. As of mid-June, ICE was detaining nearly 60,000 people, almost 45% above the capacity provided for by Congress. More

The Guardian- Most of the more than 2.6 million farm workers in the US are Hispanic, non-citizen immigrants. Around 40% of US farm workers are estimated to be undocumented.

Last month, the Trump administration called for Ice arrest quotas of 3,000 per day, up from 1,000. Following criticism of the raids, Trump claimed that changes were coming to how raids were conducted in agriculture, hospitality and food service, though a directive issued by Ice to stop targeting such sites was reversed.

Trump recently claimed the administration is looking into legislation to defer immigration enforcement on farms to farmers. “Farmers, look, they know better. They work with them for years,” he said at a rally in Iowa on 3 July. The US president is “clearly” trying to give corporate leaders “as close to slavery … that he can give to them,” claimed Rosalinda Guillen, a farm worker from Washington, community organizer and founder of the non-profit Community to Community.