NEW YORK, January 31. /TASS/. A majority of Americans (57%) support the recent raids carried out by the country’s authorities to find and deport illegal immigrants, US-based pollster Rasmussen Reports announced in a statement on Friday.
"The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 57% of likely US voters approve of the raids by federal immigration officials to apprehend and deport illegal immigrants, including 38% who strongly approve," the report reads.
"Thirty-nine percent disapprove of the immigration raids, including 24% who strongly disapprove," the report added.
The survey was held over the phone on January 26-28 and polled over 1,100 people. According to the pollster, the maximum margin of error stands at three percent.
On his first day in office, US President Donald Trump declared illegal immigration a national emergency, tasking the US military with aiding border security, issuing a broad ban on asylum, and taking steps to restrict citizenship for children born on American soil.
In his January 20 executive order Trump instructed the Pentagon to send as many troops as is necessary in order to gain complete operational control of the southern border of the United States.
The New York Post reported earlier that the White House had issued a quota to the Customs and Border Protection Service to apprehend at least 1,800 people a day for violating immigration laws.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported earlier this week citing a senior official in the Washington administration that US President Trump could introduce a 25% duty on goods from Mexico and Canada as early as on February 1.
According to a high-ranking Washington representative, Trump thinks that the duties will put him in better bargaining position to get the two countries to acquiesce to his demands. The US President is not going to back down on increasing taxes on Canadian and Mexican goods, the official said.
Some close to Trump say that he does not feel that Canada and Mexico are taking his threats seriously, so he wants to hit them with the duties to get their leaders to sit down with him and address his concerns.
Mexico is prioritizing the immigration issue, but at this point, it’s not enough, so plans for the tax hike are still on, the US official said. Meanwhile, he did not specify what exactly Trump wanted Mexico City and Ottawa to do to get him to change his mind.