GOP walks tightrope on immigration ahead of midterms |
GOP walks tightrope on immigration ahead of midterms
Republicans are struggling with how to thread the needle on immigration ahead of what is expected to be a bruising midterm season in which many voters have soured on the Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement.
But the party has spent two years championing policies that resulted from President Trump running on “securing” the border, including a pledge to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in history.
Two back-to-back statements from Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) illustrate the problem.
In an interview with Politico on Tuesday, the lawmaker said immigration officers have been “dragging people away that have lived on your street corner for 15 years.”
“I don’t know that we need to be doing that stuff,” he told the outlet.
“To get better, the first thing you got to do is admit you’re doing something wrong,” he added, nodding to the need to “step back.”
But the next day, he walked the comments back.
“Let me be crystal clear: I support President Trump’s immigration strategy, full stop,” he wrote on the social platform X.
Trump has also acknowledged the issue.
“Frankly, it’s the hardest job that I’ve had,” Trump said during a Hispanic Heritage Month event at the White House on Wednesday. “They’ll say you’re too tough or you’re too soft. Get tougher, get softer. No matter what you do, it’s always tough.”
The president’s comments come as a Thursday AP-NORC poll found Trump had a 39 percent approval rating on immigration, while recent Politico polling found divides in how the GOP rated Trump on the issue. Thirty-one percent of those polled who did not identify as MAGA said Trump’s deportation campaign is too aggressive.
Republicans are also struggling with the Hispanic voting bloc, which boosted Trump and the GOP in 2024. Signs of disapproval among Hispanic and Latino voters are particularly noticeable in Texas and Florida, as the GOP looks to keep control of Congress in November.
Twenty percent of Hispanic voters in Florida who supported Trump in 2024 said they would not repeat their vote, according to a UnidosUS........