CNN Analyst: No Group Has Flipped Harder Right on Immigration Than Legal Immigrants
“More so than any other group that I could find, the group of voters that became more hawkish on immigration were, in fact, immigrants themselves — immigrants who were registered to vote in this country.”
During a June 2019 MSNBC Democratic presidential primary debate, co-moderator Savannah Guthrie asked the candidates to raise their hands if their healthcare plans would cover undocumented immigrants. All ten candidates, including former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, raised their hands.
That shocking moment demonstrated just how far left the party had drifted. It showed that Democrats had abandoned their centrist roots and fully embraced a more radical agenda. As ludicrous as the idea seemed, with the backing and promotion of legacy media and Big Tech, this and other equally extreme proposals soon became normalized.
We all know what followed. The Biden administration’s open-border policies allowed, at a minimum, 10 million largely unvetted illegal immigrants to pour into the country. This unprecedented influx of so many overwhelmingly needy newcomers strained city and state budgets, marginalized citizens, and in many cases, put Americans’ safety at risk. And on November 5, 2024, voters delivered a resounding “no” to the liberal policies and to the liberal politicians responsible for those policies.
Much to the Democrats’ surprise, the majority of the electorate rejects the party’s coddling of undocumented aliens and sides with the Republicans on this issue.
On Tuesday morning, CNN data analyst Harry Enten presented some stunning statistics that show no group has flipped harder to the right on illegal immigration than legal immigrants.
Enten showed that in 2020, immigrant citizens — those who followed the legal path to citizenship — were asked which party they trusted more on immigration.
The group favored Democrats by a 32-point margin.
Four years later, however, they favored Republicans by an 8-point margin.
That’s a 40-point swing.
“Republicans now lead on this issue by 8 points over Democrats,” Enten said. “More so than any other group that I could find, the group of voters that became more hawkish on immigration were, in fact, immigrants themselves — immigrants who were registered to vote in this country.”
His clearly unenthused colleague, Kate Baldwin, asked how immigrants feel about President Trump.
Enten noted that in 2016, Trump won 36% of the immigrant citizen vote. In 2020, his share ticked up to 39%. And in 2024, it reached 47%.
“There is no block of voters that shifted more to the right from 2020 to 2024 than immigrant voters,” he emphasized. “Immigrant voters have increasingly liked Donald Trump and have increasingly moved to the right on immigration and into the Republican camp.”
Baldwin asked how immigrant citizens feel about people who are in the country illegally. A very excited Enten replied, “This is when it all comes together.”
In 2020, the net favorability of illegal immigrants among immigrant citizens stood at +23%. By 2024, it had dropped to -6% — a striking 29-point decline in just four years.
“So, immigrant citizens have become increasingly unfavorable in their views of those immigrants who are here illegally. … [Immigrant citizens] have felt increasingly distant from those immigrants who are here illegally.”
In conclusion, Enten said, “And so, from a political angle, this is why Donald Trump feels so comfortable because, in fact, among the group that you would think would be most opposed to this, in fact, they’ve become increasingly favorable not just toward Donald Trump, but toward the Republican point of view on immigration and becoming distant from those immigrants who are here illegally.”
No group has become more hawkish on immigration & shifted to the GOP than immigrants.
Immigrant voters
-Trust more on immigration in 2020: Dem +32 pt to Now: GOP +8 pt
-Net fav of immigrants here illegally: +23 pt in '20, -6 pt in '24
-Trump's vote: 36% in '16 to 47% in '24! pic.twitter.com/YebaSvfL7D— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) June 10, 2025
This growing alignment between immigrant citizens and the Republican Party is not particularly surprising. In many ways, it seems to be a natural fit. For many immigrant communities, particularly Hispanic-Americans, deeply held beliefs around faith, family, and personal responsibility are central to their cultural identity. These values often mirror key pillars of the Republican platform, such as a strong emphasis on religious freedom, traditional family structures, and a commitment to hard work and self-reliance.
As these immigrants establish themselves and become more politically active, it is understandable that they would gravitate toward a party that seems to reflect their moral and cultural priorities.
However, as Enten noted, while 47% of immigrant citizens supported Donald Trump, a roughly equal proportion cast their votes for Harris. What stands out, though, is the broader trend: a measurable and growing shift to the right among this significant voting bloc.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn or X.
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hero ceaser chavez was upfront about NOT allowing in illegals and he was the mexican hero “against the system”
Chavez believed illegals (as he insisted on calling them) were taking work away from legal farm workers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Chavez#Immigration_and_legislative_campaigns:_1973%E2%80%931975
I was blessed to be born in the United States (I can trace family back to the Mayflower) but I also know how difficult it is to become a naturalized citizen. In fact, I know for a fact that a large proportion of U.S. citizens could not pass the test.
So it stands to reason that those who have stood in line, studied and achieved citizenship the legal way would be offended by those who accepted the invitation of the treasonous democrats to waltz over the border with their hands out. Human trafficking and drug running being to of their favorite pastimes.
Let’s hope the democrats keep right on playing into Trump’s hand here. We may just see the collapse of the party yet.
And those legal citizens realize that governments (state and federal) take advantage of them by seizing a portion of their earnings in order to reward those who come here illegally with medical care, housing, and public education.
I think part of it is what you say but there’s also a will to blend into the melting pot that comes with studying for and knocking out that test.
Those people left their old countries in many cases because they didn’t like many of the people or the power brokers in those countries.
They don’t want those culture issues to follow them to their new home.
They learned what we knew.
Over the last five-or-so years we’ve had some remodeling done in our home using the same contractor. One of our specifications was a legal work force. His subs are almost all Hispanic and I can say without reservation they do very good quality work. The last couple of times they worked for us we asked them about the people coming across the border in droves and, both times, they got really tight jawed, visibly angry. The illegals were undercutting them on wages. I assured them that we are willing to pay for quality which is why we preferred their prime as our contractor.
There’s a difference in cheap and inexpensive. We didn’t want cheap. We wanted quality and we got it.
.
This is something that the “progressives,” who are overwhelmingly Anglo and overwhelmingly graduates of Eastern finishing schools, and who know NOTHING about legal immigrants from Mexico, utterly fail to understand.
The people who work on our house and vehicles where I live are Mexican immigrants. Legally. The guy I know best would build the wall twice as high. He knows all about the narcos down there. Maybe I will post again about this, so for now I’ll only say that the cartels and gangs have done the most damage among legitimate immigrants and Mexican-American citizens.
I have been waiting for this group to flip, and now it is happening. Now, the Republicans need to offer a better path to citizenship for people who have been here for a long time (i.e., before Biden’s opening of the border) and who are working hard, raising families, obeying the laws, and paying taxes.
This is a HUGE political opportunity if the Republicans will do it right.
IMO the Democratic Party is the Something-for-Nothing Party – from men cheating in womens’ sports, to giving out HS diplomas to people who can’t read or do math, to illegal border crossers who got in immediately and get more “goodies” than the legal immigrants who waited years and struggled to get here.
The magic of OPM – other people’s money. It’s a lot easier to pledge OPM than to have to make any kind of actual sacrifice to help your fellow man.
I am deeply enjoying the schadenfreude derived from the “misfortune” of the democrats. I really hope they can’t recover, preferably ever. Too much to hope for, I suppose.
Someone wrote that local Chicano gangs would support the illegals? I would think eliminating turf competition would be a better reason not to.
I can see it go both ways. Local gangs are inherently lawless and they may view illegal immigrants as a pool from which to recruit new members. Or, as you say, they may view the newcomers as bringing rival gang loyalties with them.
Hard to say without more data.
“All ten candidates, including former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, raised their hands. That shocking moment demonstrated just how far left the party had drifted. … We all know what followed.”
Yup. the voters elected a *** Democrat despite it.
“No Group Has Flipped Harder Right on Immigration Than Legal Immigrants”
They say there is no more fervent zealot than a convert.
If we could just find a magic bullet to convert our maleducated Gen X Y, and Z, the left would be burnt toast.
Gen X isn’t the problem. We’re pretty solidly opposed to illegal immigration. Hate to say it, but it’s the Boomers that started the current insanity and the Millenials who’ve enabled it.
Yeah not Gen X (’66-’80). We were coming up watching the ’86 Amnesty and then dealing with consequences since. We tend to be very libertarian in outlook but not the soft socialist kind. As.an example I don’t care if someone wants to shoot up heroin, go for it… but you are still accountable for all your own actions/inaction so of you end up ‘homeless’ selling your body for $ to buy more heroin that’s not societies issue to fix. Put that criminal in prison and no there ain’t no cushy detox just cold turkey. No whining b/c choices have consequences. Gen X by and large are independent minded, believing in maximum individual liberty and minimal Gov’t.
Now Gen Y aka Millennials (’81-’96) these little snowflakes are the devil incarnate. Whining little narcissists by and large who were the Rona mask enthusiasts right next to the Boomers who also believe in max conformity. After them Gen Z and Gen Alpha are much more like Gen X as a rule and don’t like the smothering conformity of the Boomers or Gen Y Millennials. There were the youth vote breaking to Trump along with Gen X which was highest % voting MAGA FWIW. Boomers are roughly 50/50 commie to MAGA.
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