As the 2025 political season heats up, immigration remains one of the most divisive and closely watched issues in both the United States and abroad. Recent polling from September and October 2025 paints a complex picture of American attitudes toward immigration, revealing deep dissatisfaction with current enforcement strategies and a strong preference for more balanced, humane solutions. Meanwhile, the debate is not limited to the U.S. border: in Chile, presidential front-runner José Antonio Kast is making headlines with his own hardline migration proposals, drawing comparisons to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach.
According to a suite of major public polls released in the fall of 2025, President Trump’s approval rating on immigration remains stubbornly low. On average, 53% of Americans disapprove of his handling of immigration, while only 44% approve—a trend that has held steady since the summer, as reported by outlets including AP/NORC, CBS/YouGov, PRRI, NYTimes/Siena, and Reuters/Ipsos. The numbers are striking: the AP/NORC poll from October found a 56-42% disapproval rate for Trump on immigration, while CBS/YouGov showed 55-45% disapproval. Even among polls that traditionally lean more conservative, like Fox News, disapproval outpaced approval on immigration by a margin of 52-47%.
This widespread discontent extends to the enforcement arm of U.S. immigration policy: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The 2025 edition of the PRRI American Values Survey, which sampled over 5,000 respondents, found that 56% of Americans lack confidence in ICE, with a plurality (35%) expressing no confidence at all. Only 42% said they had confidence in the agency. When it comes to ICE’s public image, 56% of Americans hold an unfavorable impression, with 35% saying "very unfavorable." There’s also a strong consensus—58% agree—that ICE officers should not be allowed to conceal their identity with masks or unmarked vehicles during arrests. As PRRI summarized, “By a 52-33% margin, respondents said the increase in funding for ICE to speed up efforts to arrest, detain, and deport undocumented immigrants had gone ‘too far.’”
The details of ICE’s enforcement tactics are especially unpopular. The Echelon Insights/Puck News October poll found that 72% of Americans had heard “a lot” or “some” about ICE arrests, and by a 50-34% margin, respondents opposed agents wearing masks during public arrests. As Peter Hamby of Puck put it, “The first-person videos of masked agents arresting immigrants—often in broad daylight, in public spaces, at times separating zip-tied parents from children howling in anguish—have reached escape velocity across social media platforms.” The result? ICE is “simply not very popular with Americans these days, and the public is increasingly concerned about their behavior.”
Despite these negative perceptions, there’s a persistent paradox in American politics: while Trump and Republicans face declining approval on immigration, Democrats continue to lag in public trust on the issue. According to an October AP/NORC poll, Republicans enjoy a 39-26% advantage over Democrats when Americans are asked which party they trust more on immigration. The Washington Post/Ipsos September poll found a similar 42-29% advantage for Republicans. Even as skepticism about Trump’s approach grows, Democrats have yet to convince voters that they can manage the border or immigration system more effectively. The Third Way October poll put it bluntly: “while voters are softening in their views toward Trump and his party on immigration overall, they still don’t trust Democrats to manage the border responsibly.” Republicans also maintain a commanding 66-26% lead on border security trust, virtually unchanged since earlier in the year.
Yet, when Americans are asked about specific policies, their preferences are clear and surprisingly consistent. The PRRI October survey found that by a staggering 72-24% margin, Americans support some form of legal status for undocumented immigrants over mass deportation. When given options, 60% prefer allowing undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship (provided they meet certain requirements), 12% favor permanent legal residency without citizenship, and only 24% support identifying and deporting them. This sentiment is echoed across several polls: the Third Way October survey found 76-24% support for a pathway to citizenship for long-residing, law-abiding undocumented immigrants. Comparable results appeared in summer polls from Navigator, Fox News, Quinnipiac, and Pew Research, all showing 59-65% support for balanced approaches that emphasize both order and humanity.
Americans are also wary of the militarization of immigration enforcement. A Quinnipiac October poll found that 56-41% of respondents oppose deploying the National Guard and federal law enforcement to U.S. cities to reduce crime. The Reuters/Ipsos poll showed 58-25% believe troops should only be deployed to areas facing external threats, and 61-39% oppose sending active-duty military to U.S. cities. Even in cases like Washington, DC, a NYTimes/Siena poll found 51-41% opposition to deploying National Guard troops.
These numbers underscore a core lesson: Americans are deeply uncomfortable with what they perceive as reckless and harmful mass deportations and militarized enforcement. They want a balanced approach that addresses border security concerns while also offering legal status and humane treatment for long-term undocumented immigrants. There is, as the Third Way poll memo noted, a public desire for “a forward-looking vision that emphasizes how immigration strengthens America, accountability for those who break the law, and compassion for those who follow it.”
Calls for this new vision are growing louder, not just among Democrats but also from outside experts and advocates. Proposals like the Dignity Act of 2025, the New Democratic Coalition’s immigration framework, and the CAP Immigration Framework all aim to bridge the gap between security and humanity. Representative Tom Suozzi and America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas have both argued that “the public wants solutions and things fixed, not destroyed, and that includes the broken immigration system that has been desperate for an overhaul for decades.”
Meanwhile, the debate is spilling over into other countries. On October 29, 2025, Chilean presidential front-runner José Antonio Kast declared that his hardline migration policies would encourage a larger share of undocumented migrants to self-deport than under Donald Trump’s U.S. policies. According to Bloomberg, Kast’s statement reflects a growing trend of right-wing politicians worldwide adopting—and sometimes seeking to outdo—the tough immigration stances popularized by Trump.
The ongoing debate over immigration in the U.S. and abroad is a testament to the issue’s complexity and the public’s desire for both order and compassion. As Americans weigh their options in the coming elections, the challenge for policymakers is to craft solutions that restore trust, reflect the nation’s values, and address the legitimate concerns of a diverse and divided electorate.
