New polling data published by the Refugee Advocacy Lab, Refugees International, and Data for Progress today revealed the Trump administration’s anti-refugee policies to be deeply unpopular among broad swaths of U.S. voters. Among other key findings, the new poll found that more than two-thirds of voters believe the United States should consider granting asylum to women and girls fleeing gender-based violence; this includes 80 percent of Democrats, 67 percent of Independents, and 59 percent of Republicans. In September, Attorney General Bondi issued restrictive new legal precedents aiming to eliminate such protections, in a regressive power grab that has threatened decades of progress on women’s rights.
“The Justice Department’s quiet assault on asylum for women and girls is wildly out of step with both U.S. and international law,” said Kate Jastram, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS). “It is also out of step with U.S. voters, who overwhelmingly support a fair system that upholds due process for all people seeking safety, including people escaping gender-based violence. CGRS continues to vigorously defend the rights of refugee women and girls in the courts. We urge our leaders to listen to their constituents and join us in standing up for the rights of all people who turn to the United States for refuge.”
The new poll also found that a strong majority of U.S. voters believe that the United States should allow people fleeing persecution to seek asylum at the southern border. On inauguration day the president shut down nearly all asylum processing at the border, in defiance of our laws and treaty obligations. A majority of voters similarly oppose deportations of people seeking asylum and other immigrants to countries where they have never lived and where their safety is not guaranteed. Since taking office, the Trump administration has sent people to such countries, including South Sudan, Rwanda, Eswatini, Costa Rica, and El Salvador, where the administration condemned 252 Venezuelans to torture in the country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison.