A majority of surveyed Americans oppose the way President Trump is using migrant detention facilities amid his broader crackdown on immigration, according to a new CBS News/YouGov poll.
When asked in the survey if they “favor or oppose the way the Trump administration is using detention facilities to hold people it may try to deport,” 42 percent of respondents said they back it, while 58 percent were against it.
Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill,” which passed earlier this month, included billions of dollars to ramp up what was already significantly increased immigration enforcement under Trump.
The administration and Florida leaders recently came together to build a detention facility on a remote site in the Everglades to hold migrants awaiting deportation.
The site, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” opened earlier this month, featuring soft-sided holding units for hundreds of detainees via a partnership in which the federal government provides funding and the Florida Division of Emergency Management oversees the build-outs as well as management.
Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended conditions at the facility after Democrats said the detained migrants faced “inhumane” treatment there.
“Our detention centers at the federal level are held to a higher standard than most local or state centers and even federal prisons. The standards are extremely high,” Noem said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” at the time.
In the CBS News/YouGov poll, 53 percent of respondents said “the way Donald Trump and the Republicans are handling immigration” is “too tough,” while 18 percent said it is “not tough enough” and 29 percent called it “about right.”
Majorities of respondents say the administration is deporting more people than they thought they would, and that officials are not prioritizing dangerous criminals.
The survey took place from July 16 to 18, featuring 2,343 people and a margin of error of about 2.5 percentage points.
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