Fox News Poll: Majority says immigration enforcement has crossed the line

A 53% majority of registered voters say the Trump administration’s enforcement of immigration laws has gone too far, according to new Fox News polling, a view that has stayed consistent since June 2025. 

The remaining voters are split between enforcement not going far enough and enforcement that’s just about right (23% each).

The results skew along party lines: 87% of Democrats and 60% of independents say enforcement has gone too far, while most Republicans split between not far enough (40%) and about right (43%).

Among those saying enforcement has gone too far, voters are divided on the reason: 45% point to the government using too much force, while 49% say the wrong people are being targeted. 

FOX NEWS POLL: SQUEEZED BY COSTS, FRUSTRATED VOTERS TURN TO THE DEMOCRATS

Democrats say the government is targeting the wrong people (by 7 points) while independents say it’s because of using too much force (by 2 points). There are not enough Republicans saying the enforcement has gone too far to draw meaningful conclusions.

Consequently, President Trump’s approval rating on immigration sits at 43%, down from a high of 48% last summer.

For the past four years, until this summer, voters consistently said the Republicans would do a better job handling immigration than the Democrats. That advantage has all but disappeared, as voters are split between the parties (48% D vs. 49% R). The Democrats are competitive on immigration due to independents backing them over the GOP by 6 points and 15% of non-MAGA Republicans preferring the Democrats.

FOX NEWS POLL: COOL YOUR SERVERS! VOTERS REJECT DATA CENTERS

“The immigration issue has been defined in terms of border security since the Biden years,” says Daron Shaw, the GOP pollster who helps conduct the survey with Democrat Chris Anderson. “But voters now think of immigration policy as ICE crackdowns, and many say these have been too aggressive.”

Despite fewer than 1 in 10 (8%) voters identifying immigration as their priority, it only trails the cost of living (34%) and the broader economy (14%) as the most important issue facing the country.

One more thing…

Nearly two-thirds of voters (63%) agree that a child born to an illegal immigrant in the United States should automatically become a citizen. While overall support has softened from previous highs around 67-69%, it’s still far above its low of 45% in 2006.

CLICK HERE FOR CROSSTABS AND TOPLINE

Again, results are defined by partisanship: roughly 9 in 10 Democrats and 6 in 10 independents support birthright citizenship, while 6 in 10 Republicans oppose it.

Among Hispanic voters, two-thirds disapprove of Trump’s overall job performance and his handling of immigration. They trust the Democrats over the Republicans on the issue by 19 points, while 60% say immigration enforcement has gone too far.

Three-quarters of Hispanic voters think citizenship should be guaranteed for those born in the U.S. to illegal immigrant parents.

Conducted September 11-14, 2026, under the direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News survey includes interviews with a sample of 1,211 registered voters randomly selected from a national voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (96) and cellphones (821) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (294). 

Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can influence results. Weights are generally applied to age, race, education and area variables to ensure the demographics are representative of the registered voter population. Sources for developing weight targets include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis and voter file data.