Miami has long been known as the “Gateway to the Americas,” and new polling shows that when it comes to how its citizenry feels about the treatment of undocumented immigrants, that title remains apt.
Seventy-one percent of Miami voters — including 72% of Hispanic voters — believe the United States border should be completely secure. When asked whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should find and deport “violent criminals,” 78% of Miami voters say yes.
Support is even stronger among Hispanic respondents, with 83% agreeing ICE should nab and oust violent criminals.
Eighty-one percent of independent voters and 65% of Democrats say the same.
But Miami voters notably diverge when it comes to whether undocumented migrants should be detained and deported if they haven’t broken any laws other than entering or staying in the U.S. illegally.
Fifty-nine percent of voters — including 55% of independents and 64% of Hispanics — are against removing otherwise law-abiding foreign residents, compared to 21% who are in favor of it and 20% who are uncertain where they stand on the matter.
Image via Kaplan Strategies.
The same share of voters (59%) opposes using local police to facilitate the detainment and deportation of immigrants here illegally who have not broken any other laws. Just over a quarter (26%) said they’re fine with the practice. Fifteen percent are undecided.
Amid reports and video footage showing ICE agents using aggressive tactics to detain people, including more than 170 U.S. citizens, half of Miami voters say the treatment of immigrants is being taken too far.
That includes 44% of Hispanics, 67% of Democrats, 43% of independents and 38% of Republicans.
Meanwhile, a third (37%) think the policies and practices being employed under President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem are either just right or not strict enough.
Image via Kaplan Strategies.
Kissimmee-based Kaplan Strategies surveyed 518 Miami online voters Oct. 26-29. The poll had a 4.3-percentage-point margin of error.
Sixty-three percent of respondents identified as Latino, Hispanic or of a Spanish-speaking background — roughly 7 percentage points less than Miami’s demographic makeup as of the 2020 U.S. Census.
Thirty-seven percent belonged to a third or no party, while 36% said they are Democrats and 27% identified as Republican.
Thirty-four percent said they vote for Republicans “always” or “often,” while 29% said they “sometimes” and 37% said never. Among Hispanics, 30% said they “always” vote for Republicans, compared to 26% who said the contrary.
U.S. Census data shows about 55.4% of Miami residents were born outside the U.S., an overwhelming share of them — 92% — coming from Latin America. A 2021 New American Economy analysis estimated 226,600 undocumented immigrants lived in larger Miami-Dade, accounting for roughly 8% of the county’s total population.