How The Public's Shift On Immigration Paved The Way For Trump's Crackdown

Alleged gang members without criminal records wrongly sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

International students detained by masked federal agents for writing opinion columns or attending campus demonstrations .

American citizens, visa holders and visitors stopped at airports, detained for days or facing deportation for minor infractions .

Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has launched an unprecedented campaign of immigration enforcement that has pushed the limits of executive power and clashed with federal judges trying to restrain him . But unlike in his first term, Trump's efforts have not sparked the kind of widespread condemnation or protests that led him to retreat from some unpopular positions.

Instead, immigration has emerged as one of Trump's strongest issues in public polling, reflecting both his grip on the Republican base and a broader shift in public sentiment that is driven in part, interviews suggest, by anger at the policies of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.