Trump pledges 'mass deportations.' Here's what his voters say they want to see
When Mesa resident Richard Vanderwoude cast his ballot for President-elect Donald Trump in November, securing the border was at the top of his mind.
The retired lobbyist, who turns 86 in January, is a Trump supporter and describes himself as an “America First” conservative.
Still, Vanderwoude is not convinced that Trump will carry out mass deportations to the extent that he promised on the campaign trail. And that’s fine by him.
“He’s a prime negotiator. It’s the art of the deal,” he said.
Trump supporters in Arizona largely want criminals who came to the U.S. illegally to be deported when the president-elect takes office, they said in interviews with The Arizona Republic this month. Many pointed to highly publicized cases of crimes committed by immigrants, such as a migrant from Guatemala recently accused of killing a woman by setting her on fire on the New York City subway.
However, many have varying opinions on how the incoming Republican administration will, or should, handle other groups, such as those who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children or families with mixed immigration statuses. And despite Trump’s promise to go after all of the estimated 11 million people in the country illegally, some Trump supporters think the incoming president is being misinterpreted. Several expressed frustration at rhetoric in the media and by Democrats they feel is overly alarmist.
“People are getting inflamed: ‘He’s gonna activate the army, and they’re gonna march into the churches and the grocery stores,’” said Jeffrey Hale, 63, of Scottsdale. “I don’t foresee that. … I think that’s overblown.”
Trump is pledging to deport millions of people shortly after he returns to office on Jan. 20. The Republican president-elect has said he’ll use the U.S. military to aid in his mass deportation effort and even use archaic laws to speed up the process.
He described the nation as “under siege” by illegal immigrants on the campaign trail and promised to “liberate” the country upon returning to the White House.
If he follows through, those promises could deeply impact Arizona, a state that for decades has been at the heart of the nation’s immigration woes. Arizona has served as a gateway for migrants for decades and more recently for asylum seekers. The southwestern state shares nearly 400 miles of border with Mexico. Parts of Arizona have been the busiest stretch of border in the nation and the state’s southern border is the most fortified in the country.
Trump’s incoming “border czar” has already visited the Arizona-Mexico border to meet with sheriffs, a signal that Arizona is top of mind for the incoming administration.
Regardless of what Trump has said, some who voted for him in Arizona don’t expect the mass deportation effort to be so extensive.
“He is a very astute negotiator. For instance, when he said 25 percent tariff on Canadian and Mexican imports, that was just to get the discussion started. And, lo and behold, the discussions have begun,” Hale said. “I think the same is true, honestly, for this deportation part. When he says, ‘We’re gonna get all 12 million, blah blah blah’ … The whole idea (is) a clear policy of immigration.”
Some of Trump’s signature immigration policies were stalled in court during his first term. Trump invoked a national emergency to unlock funding to build a wall at the southern border, for example, and the move was blocked by a lawsuit, and opposed by some Republicans.
Other initiatives generated blowback from the public. His “zero tolerance” policy of separating families at the U.S.-Mexico border sparked outrage from liberals and migrant advocates and even created mixed feelings among some of his conservative supporters. It became a talking point for Democrats in subsequent elections.
What does the polling say?
Immigration was the second most important issue for Arizona voters in the 2024 presidential election, behind only the economy, according to an October poll from The New York Times and Siena College.
Twenty percent of the likely electorate named immigration as their single most important issue when casting a ballot in Arizona.
“His supporters are looking for Trump to immediately address the border crisis, close the border, construct the wall and yes, deport those, especially those with criminal records, immediately,” Siena College pollster Don Levy said.
Nationally, worries about immigration are on the rise. Americans are more concerned about immigration than they were a year ago, according to a December survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Nearly half of American adults want the government to address immigration, the poll found.
Mixed feelings on Biden-era parolees, asylum seekers
President Joe Biden's administration saw record levels of migrants and asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. The administration released millions into the U.S., under humanitarian parole or to pursue asylum cases.
Republican voters in Arizona have varied opinions about how to address asylum seekers.
"If they came in for asylum, at least let them have a chance to get their visa before deportation. But if they’re here illegally, no matter the timeframe, what you did was illegal,” said Waddell resident Justin Furlong, 36, who voted for Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
Steven Mosier, a 74-year-old Republican who lives in Peoria, said Trump should deport “anybody, everybody, that's illegal” when he takes office later this month. Mosier would like to see the president-elect prioritize deporting criminals, gang members and people who came into the U.S. illegally during the Biden administration. He said he was concerned an influx of gang members and people with ties to China came into the country during that time.
Asylum seekers who entered the country over the past four years should also be deported and return to the U.S. only after their claims are approved, Mosier said.
“They should be deported, too,” Mosier said. “Do it the right way. Fill out whatever paperwork they’ve got to fill out, wait until all that stuff is approved. Then you can come over.”
William Miller, a retired veteran who lives in east Mesa, is a registered Republican who voted against Trump in the 2024 election. He’d like to see more robust security at the southern border and noted people entered the country illegally under both Biden and Trump over the past eight years. He criticized Trump’s mass deportation pledge.
“The way he talks about rounding people up and shoving them out of the country, to me, is not possible,” Miller said. “I think we need to tighten the borders. I do not agree with mobilization of the military to do that. That's not their job.”
The percentage of migrants entering the country who are violent criminals is a “small group,” Miller said, noting that many are fleeing danger or seeking a better life. He’d like to see a “measured approach” to immigration that includes helping to improve the conditions in countries that asylum seekers are coming from.
“We have to screen those people who want to stay. And if we can weed out that 2 or 3% that are really undesirable, I think it'd be fine,” Miller said. “How many people in the 19-teens and 1920s fled Europe to come to the United States? The Irish, the French, the Germans, and really built this country. I think the Hispanics would be more than willing to try and put that effort in as well.”
Similarly, Mesa truck driver Christopher Wills said asylum seekers who were released during the Biden administration should be more thoroughly vetted. He's a registered Republican who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris because he didn't agree with Trump's vision for the nation.
“I don't really have an opinion as far as if it's right or wrong to deport everybody that came in,” said Wills, 55. “They need to have some kind of vetting process, though.”
The category of asylum seekers isn't top of mind for Vanderwoude, the retired lobbyist from Mesa.
"These folks are less urgent to deal with," he said of the asylum seekers and parolees let in under Biden. He cares more about other considerations, such as whether the migrants' skill sets could be useful to the American economy, or whether they have criminal records. "I really am not in any rush to get them out," he said.
Sympathy for Dreamers
Some Arizonans who back deportation plans said they don’t support certain tactics, such as raids to find undocumented immigrants who are keeping a low profile. Arizona has seen controversial workplace raids in the past, including the 1997 Chandler roundup in which the Border Patrol teamed up with local police to detain and arrest hundreds of people suspected of being in the country illegally by targeting Latinos, among them U.S. citizens, in violation of their civil rights.
“I don’t support the idea of barging into churches, and having ICE on the street corners, neighbors telling on neighbors,” said Hale, a retired business development manager in the tech industry.
He doesn’t think Trump wants that, either.
“That’s this worst-case scenario that I’m tired of hearing about. I don’t think it’s ever going to come to that,” he said. “Lost in this emotion is the idea of a sensible border.”
Hale said Trump should not focus on Dreamers or people with close family members who are in the country illegally. The priority should be vetting and deporting people with criminal records, or those who overstayed their visas. He said the term “mass deportations” makes him cringe because it’s so vague.
“It’s a dog-whistle term, to both sides,” he said.
Karen Wood, a retired police officer and veteran who lives in Gilbert, agreed Dreamers should not be deported. They’re the only group of undocumented migrants who she said should not be removed from the country.
“I do feel sorry for a lot of these kids. Their parents made an error, they broke the law, and then they have to pay the penalties, which is sad,” Wood said. “If they commit crimes, then they need to go. But if they’re a good citizen, and they’ve been here since they were little, then I think that we should have some compassion. It wasn’t their intent to be disrespectful to our law.”
Trump has left the door open to allowing Dreamers to stay in the country. He said during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” recently that he’d like to “work with Democrats on a plan.”
“I want to be able to work something out,” Trump said.
Mixed views on unauthorized workers
Arizona’s economy relies on labor from people who could be deported under Trump’s plans. Nationwide, about a third of the country’s agricultural workers are unauthorized. Other sectors such as construction and hospitality could also be affected.
Hale supports keeping some migrants in the U.S. if they have a job. He doesn’t think it’s true that farm workers, for example, are taking American jobs, and he supports expanding legal work pathways.
“I don’t think it’s either ignore them being there or kick them all out,” said Hale. “I think a better approach would be a coordinated policy where they register: Up the quota for the H1Bs, and put them through that mechanism.”
He supports making a deal with those migrants, rather than deporting them: “If you would get in line to get the right documentation, we can promise that we’re not gonna kick you out if you’re employed. Because that proves that you’re filling a need that already is there.”
As a former lobbyist for a telecommunications company, Vanderwoude values innovation in the U.S. and acknowledges migrants’ contributions to the economy. He believes Trump does too, even if he isn’t saying that.
“I do not want to export people who have come here and gained technical skills and can benefit society. And I don’t think (Trump) does either,” he said. “But if you start off by giving all that away, then in your negotiation, you got nothing.”
Wood takes a different view. Growing up in liberal Maryland, she says she gradually became a conservative over the course of her lifetime. She voted for former President Barack Obama in 2008, in part because she supported the idea of having a Black president. But she soured on him when, from her perspective, he “made everything about race” and “used it against white people.”
Now she takes a hardline stance when it comes to immigration issues. She sees illegal immigration as an insult to U.S. sovereignty, and slammed migrant advocacy groups for “screaming about their rights” in “a country they broke into. Once you come over illegally, I think that you should not be able to ever be a citizen of America,” she said.
When it comes to unauthorized workers, “If they came here illegally, then they should’ve gotten a work permit, and come here legally, and gone through the process.”
She also supports penalties on employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers. But she said employers can’t be blamed if they honestly believe a worker was here legally.
Wood often returned to the idea that undocumented migrants in the U.S. are an unknown quantity. A large share of the people who come to the U.S. illegally are known to authorities — including ones who overstay their visas — but others go undetected.
“We don’t know who they are,” she said.
(This story has been updated to add a gallery.)