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CBS News host Margaret Brennan on Sunday appeared perplexed by the results of a recent poll that showed majority support for deporting all illegal immigrants.
“Homeland Security says that President Biden has already deported or repatriated more people in the past year than any year since 2010. And then, depending on the details of what’s talked about on the campaign trail, some of what Mr. Trump talks about could be illegal,” Brennan said.
She continued, “It doesn’t seem practical, in some sense, to round up children. And then we know that the courts have questioned whether local authorities would have the ability to do it, and federal authorities don’t have the resources. So what exactly do people think they’re supporting?”
A CBS News/YouGov poll found that 62% of registered voters said they would support a government program that would deport all migrants living in the U.S. illegally. The poll, conducted between June 5-7, also found that a majority of registered voters supported Biden’s latest executive action at the southern border.
CBS’ Margaret Brennan appeared surprised by the public support of deporting all illegal immigrants. (Screenshot/CBS)
Anthony Salvanto, CBS’ director of elections and surveys, said that while the support for a deportation effort was mostly among supporters of former President Trump, some Democrats supported it as well.
“When you measure public sentiment on this or really just about any policy, you’re getting a sense of direction. You’re getting broad brushstrokes,” Salvanto said.
Salvanto also said the poll asked if respondents felt local authorities should be involved in deporting the migrants.
“A lot of folks do say yes. Again, the details of that, the specifics, you’re not going to pick that up in an aggregate public opinion,” he said.
“We are in a different era in which a lot of folks say the system as a whole is not working. And all of these, if you connect the dots through them, are part of that reaction against it, which explains some of that general sentiment for some of these policies,” Salvanto continued.
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June 2, 2022: ICE agents conduct an enforcement operation in the U.S. interior. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
Brennan said Americans generally just want the government to “do something.”
Trump has said he plans to use the National Guard to deport migrants who are in the U.S. illegally. He has also said he would carry out “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”
Biden recently issued executive actions at the southern border, which temporarily stops migrants who cross the border illegally from claiming asylum.
Biden issued a presidential proclamation that will temporarily suspend the entry of non-citizens across the southern border once the number of average border encounters exceeds 2,500 a day over seven days, officials said. That will stay in effect until 14 days after there has been a seven-day average of less than 1,500 encounters along the border. Officials said it would make it easier for immigration officers to quickly remove individuals who do not have a legal basis to remain in the U.S.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.
