WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Most Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders believe President Donald Trump has done more harm than good on the issue of immigration and border security in his second term so far, according to a new AAPI Data/AP-NORC poll.
About 6 in 10 AAPI adults say Trump has hurt immigration and border security 鈥渁 lot” or “a little,” according to the survey from , compared with about 4 in 10 U.S. adults in . About two-thirds of AAPI adults 鈥� who are generally more likely to be Democrats than U.S. adults overall 鈥� also say Trump has 鈥済one too far鈥� when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, compared with about half of Americans in general.
Trump’s administration has instituted sweeping immigration measures since he took office, but the past two months have been especially tumultuous. This past January, Trump for citizens of 75 countries. have fallen dramatically, but the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests and detentions have soared. In December 2024, daily detentions averaged just under 40,000. Last month, they numbered about 70,000.
The survey was conducted on the heels of the January of two U.S. citizens and their 鈥� clad only in his underwear 鈥� in freezing temperatures.
These immigration crackdowns hit close to home for Jeff Ugai, who lives in Hawaii. On his island, Kauai, nearly four dozen people in immigration raids.
鈥淚t seems like the current administration鈥檚 efforts have been more almost about cruelty than they have about actually establishing an immigration system that makes sense to this country,鈥� said Ugai, 39, who is a Democrat.
Most AAPI adults believe Trump has crossed a line with deportations
AAPI adults, one of the fastest-growing demographics in the U.S., broadly don’t support Trump’s tough tactics on immigration, the poll found. A last fall found that unhappiness about Trump’s immigration approach had risen from earlier in the year.
鈥淲e鈥檙e also seeing opposition to policies that may not involve violence or violations of due process, but still involve things like banning immigrants from entire countries where there is a history of visa overstays or deporting immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder and executive director of .
In this poll, around 4 in 10 AAPI adults say deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally should be a low priority for the U.S. government, an increase from about one-third just after Trump took office. About one-third of AAPI adults now say these deportations should be a moderate priority, and only about 2 in 10 say they should be a high priority.
Fran Peace, 75, of Oroville, California, still sees deporting immigrants here illegally as a high priority. But the Japanese American retiree disagrees with stopping people based on 鈥渟tereotypes鈥� like their looks or if they have an accent. She also is open to a citizenship path for those who’ve lived here for years and haven鈥檛 committed a crime.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think you should just have to go back automatically, but the laws don鈥檛 say that,” Peace said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e illegal you go back. But I think there should be some concession made for the people that have been here a long time.鈥�
Most AAPI adults are unhappy with immigration enforcement tactics
Most AAPI adults, 73%, have a 鈥渟omewhat鈥� or 鈥渧ery鈥� unfavorable opinion of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.
AAPI Republicans have a much less negative view of the agency than AAPI adults overall, with only about one-third saying they view ICE negatively. But only about one-quarter of Republicans overall had an unfavorable opinion of ICE in a February AP-NORC survey.
There’s also widespread opposition to several hardline immigration policies, with about 6 in 10 saying they oppose large-scale immigration enforcement operations in neighborhoods with high populations of immigrants, and about 7 in 10 against allowing immigration enforcement agents to cover their faces when arresting people.
Prohibiting face coverings would be like body cameras, 鈥渉elping keep people accountable,鈥� Ugai said.
AAPI adults divided over whether illegal immigration threatens US workers, welfare
The AAPI adult population is split on whether immigrants here illegally have a large impact on social welfare resources and crime. About 4 in 10 AAPI adults think immigrants in the U.S. illegally pose a 鈥渕ajor risk鈥� of burdening welfare and safety net programs. A similar share see this as 鈥渁 minor risk.鈥� Only about one-quarter see 鈥渘ot a risk at all.鈥�
On the question of whether immigrants here illegally will commit crimes, about one-third of AAPI adults see this as a 鈥渕ajor risk,鈥� while about half think it’s a “minor risk.鈥� Only 15% say it’s 鈥渘ot a risk at all.”
Peace credits Trump with driving down crime like drug trafficking because before his second term, the U.S. 鈥減ractically had open borders.”
But Daniel Kim, 65, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, thinks that immigrants pose little risk in terms of crime.
A Democrat and Korean American, he previously volunteered at a church to assist refugees with food and donations. He stopped going to his own evangelical church over church leaders’ insistence on remaining apolitical.
鈥淭he church leadership just could not make the connection or could not find it in their hearts to think (about) the issues involved with the treatment of foreigners in our country,” Kim said.
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The poll of 1,197 U.S. adults who are Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders was conducted Feb. 2-9, 2026, using a sample drawn from NORC鈥檚 probability-based Amplify AAPI Panel, designed to be representative of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.
This poll is part of an ongoing project exploring the views of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, which are usually not highlighted in other surveys because of small sample sizes and lack of linguistic representation.
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