Pew: US Latinos disapprove of Trump’s immigration, economic policies

(OSV News) — Most of the nation’s Latinos disapprove of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration and economic policies — and more than half are worried that they or a loved one could be deported, including about 1 in 3 Puerto Ricans, who are U.S. citizens by birth.

In addition, almost three quarters (71%) of the nation’s Latinos believe the Trump administration is acting excessively in its deportation campaigns, with that view up from 59% in February.

The findings were released Nov. 24 by Pew Research Center, in a report based on data from two bilingual surveys conducted in September and October. Pew’s National Survey of Latinos queried 8,046 U.S. adults, of whom 4,923 identified as Hispanic, while the research group’s Sept. 22-28 survey, which polled 3,445 adults, included 629 Latinos. Pew uses the terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” interchangeably.

The data comes just days after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a special pastoral message on immigration — endorsed by Pope Leo XIV — affirming “our concern here for immigrants” amid Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Increasing pessimism

Pew said in its report that “Latinos have grown pessimistic in the year since the 2024 presidential election,” and that “most say their situation in the United States has worsened.”

Pew pointed out that immigration and economic policies had been “two key issues for Latino voters in last year’s election,” with the demographic among those shifting significantly in Trump’s favor in the 2024 election, when 48% of U.S. Hispanics backed him. (Pew clarified that “Republicans and Trump voters are not the same, though these groups largely overlap.”)

Now, said Pew, 65% of Hispanic adults in the U.S. — the second largest racial or ethnic group, accounting for one in five Americans — disapprove of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration, while 61% say Trump’s economic policies have worsened conditions.

The trend is found along a number of demographic breakouts, said Pew, which found that 75% of Latino Catholics and 58% of Latino Protestants disapprove of Trump’s job performance.

On immigration, 70% of Hispanic Catholics and 55% of Hispanic evangelicals said they disapprove of the Trump administration’s policies.

Partisan divides remain, mirroring broader trends among the general U.S. public, said the report, with 81% of Latino Trump voters approving of the president’s performance — although that share is down from 93% in January.

Pew reported that for the first time in two decades, most Hispanics “are pessimistic about their standing in America,” and 68% say conditions for the nation’s Latinos have worsened over the past year.

The figures contrast with the 39% who said the same in 2019, during the end of Trump’s first term, and the 26% who responded negatively in 2021 during the Biden administration.

Most Hispanics (78%) say the Trump administration’s policies harm rather than help them — up from the 69% who held that view in 2019.

In addition, more than half of the nation’s Latinos (55%) expressed “serious concerns about their place in the U.S., up from 48% in 2019,” said Pew.

State of household income

While U.S. Hispanics raised their median household income amid a decreased poverty rate from 2023 to 2024, most “rated their financial situation negatively in 2024,” and currently “continue to view their financial situation negatively,” said Pew.

Close to two thirds (63%) describe their finances as being “in only fair or poor shape,” Pew reported, with about one in three struggling to pay for food (35%), medical care (30%) or housing (30%) during the past year. Overall, just under half (48%) of Latinos said they had difficulty affording at least one of the three — with Latinos who work full time as likely as those who are unemployed to report struggling financially.

Citing 2024 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Pew noted that 44% of U.S. Latino adults, or 21.1 million, are immigrants — and 52% of Latino adults expressed concern that they or a loved one could be deported, up from 42% in March.

The fear is particularly pronounced among younger adults, immigrants, those with Central American origins, and voters who supported Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

Pew noted that although most U.S. Latinos hold “broadly negative views” of Trump’s immigration policies, “nearly seven-in-ten Hispanics think that at least some immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally should be deported,” including “13% who say all should be deported,” and “55% who say some should be,” with 31% holding that none should be deported.

Deportations and ICE

A March survey by Pew, cited in the current report, found that Latinos broadly supported deporting those who had committed violent crimes, with “relatively few” endorsing deportations of those married to a U.S. citizen or those who have U.S.-born children.

At the same time, close to half of the nation’s Latinos (47%) report feeling less safe in their neighborhoods due to the Trump administration’s deportation campaigns, with 40% saying “the administration’s efforts haven’t made a difference either way,” said Pew.

Most Latinos (59%) report having either seen or heard about Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests or raids — which the Trump administration has implemented throughout the country — in their community over the past six months.

The shares are roughly the same for Latino immigrants (60%) and U.S.-born Hispanics (58%).

Pew said that some 1 in 5 Hispanics, or 22%, “personally know someone who’s been deported or detained by the U.S. federal government for immigration reasons in the last year.”

That share is higher among Central Americans (about one third). Mexicans (22%), South Americans (21%), Cubans (18%) and Puerto Ricans (15%).

As of Nov. 16, well over 65,000 individuals are in ICE custody, with 73.6% of those detained having no criminal conviction, and many of those with convictions were responsible for minor offenses such as traffic violations, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

Latinos’ daily routines have been impacted, said Pew survey respondents, with 19% recently changing their everyday activities over concerns of being asked to prove their legal status, and 11% reporting they now more often carry documentation proving their citizenship of immigration status.

In addition, some Latinos “are engaging in certain activities less often in recent months,” reporting to Pew that they’re avoiding local community or cultural events (10%), speaking a language other than English (9%), family and friend gatherings (9%), grocery shopping (8%) and religious services (7%).

Catholic teaching

Catholic social teaching on immigration balances three interrelated principles — the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and control immigration, and a nation’s duty to regulate its borders with justice and mercy.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church instructs that “more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin” (Catechism, 2241).

Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.

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