Washington — Most Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders believe President Donald Trump has done more harm than good on immigration and border security in his second term so far, according to a new AAPI Data/AP-NORC poll.
About 6 in 10 AAPI adults say Trump has hurt immigration and border security “a lot” or “a little,” according to AAPI survey. Data from AAPI and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Researchcompared to about 4 in 10 adults in the United States AP-NORC January survey. About two-thirds of AAPI adults — who are generally more likely to be Democrats than American adults overall — also say Trump has “gone too far” when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, compared to about half of Americans overall.
The Trump administration has taken sweeping immigration action since taking office, but the past two months have been particularly turbulent. Last January, Trump Suspension of immigrant visa processing For citizens of 75 countries. Arrests at the US-Mexico border They have decreased significantly, but the number of arrests and detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement has risen dramatically. In December 2024, daily arrests averaged just under 40,000 people. Last month, their number reached about 70,000.
The survey was conducted in January Fatal shooting by ICE agents Two US citizens and A Hmong American man arrested – Wearing only his underwear – in freezing temperatures.
These migratory campaigns hit close to home for Jeff Ojai, who lives in Hawaii. On his island, Kauai, approximately forty people They were arrested in November In immigration raids
“It seems like the current administration’s efforts have been more about toughness than they have been about creating a common-sense immigration system for this country,” said Ojay, 39, a Democrat.
The poll found that AAPI adults, one of the fastest-growing demographics in the United States, generally do not support Trump’s tough immigration tactics. A Separate survey of AAPI/AP-NORC data It found last fall that dissatisfaction with Trump’s approach to immigration had risen from earlier in the year.
“We are also seeing opposition to policies that may not involve violence or due process violations, but still involve things like banning immigrants from entire countries where there is a history of visa overstays or deporting immigrants married to U.S. citizens,” said Karthik Ramakrishnan, founder and executive director of the Foundation. Abby data.
In this poll, about 4 in 10 AAPI adults say deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally should be a low priority for the U.S. government, an increase from about a third immediately after Trump took office. About a third of AAPI adults now say these deportations should be a moderate priority, and only about 2 in 10 say they should be a high priority.
Fran Pace, 75, of Oroville, California, still sees deporting illegal immigrants here as a top priority. But the Japanese-American retiree disagrees with stopping people based on “stereotypes” such as their appearance or whether they speak a dialect. It is also open to a path to citizenship for those who have lived here for years and have not committed a crime.
“I don’t think you should automatically come back, but the laws don’t say so,” Pace said. “If you’re illegal, you have to go back. But I think some concessions have to be made for people who have been here a long time.”
Most AAPI adults, 73%, have a “somewhat” or “very” negative opinion of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.
AAPI Republicans have a less negative view of the agency than AAPI adults overall, with only about a third saying they view ICE unfavorably. But only about a quarter of Republicans overall had an unfavorable opinion of ICE in a February AP-NORC poll.
There is also widespread opposition to many tough immigration policies, with about 6 in 10 saying they oppose large-scale immigration enforcement operations in neighborhoods with large immigrant populations, and about 7 in 10 against allowing immigration enforcement agents to cover their faces when arresting people.
A ban on face coverings would be like body cameras, “helping keep people accountable,” Ojay said.
AAPI adult residents are divided on whether immigrants here illegally have too much impact on welfare resources and crime. About 4 in 10 AAPI adults believe that immigrants in the United States illegally pose a “high risk” of burdening welfare programs and safety nets. A similar share sees this as a “minor risk.” Only a quarter of them believe that the phrase “is not dangerous at all.”
On the question of whether immigrants here illegally will commit crimes, about a third of AAPI adults see this as a “major risk,” while nearly half believe it is a “minor risk.” Only 15% said it was “not dangerous at all.”
Peace credits Trump with reducing crime such as drug trafficking, because before his second term, the United States “had practically open borders.”
But Daniel Kim, 65, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, believes immigrants do not pose much of a crime risk.
He is a Democrat and Korean American, and previously volunteered at a church to help refugees with food and donations. He stopped going to his evangelical church because of church leaders’ insistence on remaining apolitical.
“The church leadership was unable to connect the two matters or did not find it in their hearts to think about the issues related to the treatment of foreigners in our country,” Kim said.
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The survey of 1,197 Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adults was conducted February 2-9, 2026, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based Amplify AAPI panel, designed to be representative of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.
This survey is part of an ongoing project to explore the opinions of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, which are not typically highlighted in other surveys due to small sample sizes and lack of linguistic representation.