After months of intensifying immigration enforcement by the Trump administration, a new poll reveals a dramatic shift in opinion among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) adults nationwide. According to a survey conducted by AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, about 7 in 10 AAPI adults now disapprove of President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration—a significant increase from 58% back in March 2025.
This surge in disapproval comes as federal immigration agents have ramped up crackdowns in places like Chicago, where more than 1,000 immigrants have been arrested since September. The escalation is just one part of a broader push by the Trump administration to increase deportations, a policy goal that has defined much of the president’s tenure. The poll, which surveyed 1,027 U.S. adults from September 2 to 9, 2025, found that these efforts have not landed well among AAPI communities, many of whom are immigrants themselves or have close ties to immigrant experiences.
“If I was at risk of like being stripped away from my home, family, friends, everything I knew because of like a technicality, which is what some people are facing, that’s just heartbreaking,” said Joie Meyer, a 25-year-old Miami resident who was born in China and adopted as an infant. Meyer, a Democrat, supports secure borders but sees the administration’s recent actions as “punitive.”
The poll’s findings underscore a growing sense of unease among AAPI adults regarding the administration’s approach. A solid majority now say Trump has overstepped in deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. About two-thirds believe the president has “gone too far” with enforcement—a sentiment higher than that found among Black and Hispanic adults in a similar AP-NORC poll conducted in September, and far above the less than half of white adults who felt the same.
“There’s a big difference in terms of what policy support looks like in theory and how it plays out,” explained Karthick Ramakrishnan, executive director of AAPI Data and a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, in comments to the Associated Press.
Some of the administration’s most aggressive tactics are particularly unpopular in the AAPI community. About six in ten AAPI adults oppose large-scale immigration enforcement operations in neighborhoods with high immigrant populations, the deployment of the military or National Guard to carry out arrests and deportations, detaining immigrants at their workplaces, and allowing agents to cover their faces during arrests. These measures, especially when captured on video—like masked ICE officers detaining people at work or on public streets—have stirred deep anxieties.
Michael Ida, a 56-year-old resident of Honolulu, described his discomfort: “When it comes down to justice or mercy, we should err on the side of mercy. It’s very disturbing to me. As an Asian American especially, I feel like there’s a little bit of anxiety to travel outside of Hawaii.” Ida, who is half Korean and half Japanese, also sees echoes of darker times in American history: “History doesn’t repeat but it rhymes. There’s kind of echoes of what happened in the past,” he said, referencing the forced incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
For Peter Lee, a 38-year-old Democrat from Tacoma, Washington, the issue hits close to home. With an active Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in his city, Lee is exposed to the realities of immigration enforcement almost daily. “One, there doesn’t seem to be a clear game plan for what he’s doing in terms of immigration enforcement other than just pure numbers. Second, it seems like his directives come from just gut, not fact-based,” Lee said. He was especially critical of deportations to third-party countries not of the immigrant’s origin, calling the practice “ridiculous.”
Despite the broad disapproval, the poll also found divisions within the AAPI community, particularly between American-born and foreign-born adults. While both groups are equally likely to believe Trump has overstepped on immigration, they differ on the specifics of enforcement. Just over half of foreign-born AAPI adults—who tend to be older and more conservative—support deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally who have been charged with misdemeanors. By contrast, only 41% of American-born AAPI adults share that view.
Foreign-born AAPI adults are also more likely than their American-born counterparts to support deporting all immigrants in the country illegally, and they are somewhat more likely to approve of Trump’s handling of immigration and crime. This may reflect the fact that more than half of AAPI adults are foreign-born, a group that, according to Ramakrishnan, may be “more attuned in terms of what it takes to maintain one’s status.”
Tyrone Tai, a 65-year-old who splits his time between Tampa and Lauderhill, Florida, offers a perspective shaped by his own immigrant experience. Born in Jamaica to Chinese and Jamaican parents, Tai immigrated to New York City as a child and eventually became a U.S. citizen. For Tai, Trump’s enforcement has not gone far enough: “He’s not gone far enough when it comes to arresting those who ‘jump the line.’” Tai also defends the use of masks by ICE agents, citing threats to their families: “Those poor ICE agents, they’re doing their job there and people are basically threatening their families. That shouldn’t be.”
This diversity of opinion within the AAPI community is important to note. While the overall trend is toward greater disapproval of Trump’s immigration policies, there remains a significant bloc—especially among foreign-born and conservative-leaning AAPI adults—that supports tougher enforcement, particularly for those who have violated the law.
Still, the overwhelming majority are wary of the administration’s methods. The opposition to tactics like workplace raids, military involvement, and masked arrests speaks to a broader concern about civil liberties, fairness, and the potential for overreach. For many, these measures are reminiscent of times when the government’s actions led to lasting harm among minority communities.
The poll, conducted via NORC’s probability-based Amplify AAPI Panel and designed to be representative of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander population, carries a margin of error of plus or minus 5.0 percentage points. Its findings provide a snapshot of a community grappling with the consequences of aggressive immigration enforcement—and a warning sign for political leaders about the risks of alienating a rapidly growing and increasingly vocal segment of the American public.
As the debate over immigration continues to roil national politics, the voices from within the AAPI community offer a complex, nuanced perspective—one shaped by personal histories, diverse values, and a shared concern for justice and compassion in American life.
