Do a majority of polled Americans support mass deportation?

Polls from Pew Research and Scripps News/Ipsos, a market research and public opinion firm, indicate that more than half of eligible voters in the U.S. support mass deportations. 

The polls also found that an even larger share of Americans support legal status pathways for undocumented immigrants in some scenarios, like if they were brought to the U.S. as children, are married to U.S. citizens or fill labor shortages. 

Other polls, from research groups Data for Progress and Immigration Hub, similarly found that respondents’ opinions on mass deportation were more complex when undocumented immigrants met certain criteria, like being employed, paying taxes or lacking a criminal record. 

Data for Progress found most of those polled, when presented with specific scenarios that could result in deportation, only supported it in two cases: nonviolent criminals and recent border crossers. 

This fact brief responds to conversations such as this one. 

The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs, or quick-response fact checks, about trending claims relating to Arizona.