As the battle rages in Los Angeles and across the rest of the country over the deportations of illegal immigrants, one group has shifted far to the right on the topic of immigration. On Tuesday, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten presented a survey showing that citizens who are legal immigrants have undergone a 40-point swing in who they trust on the topic of immigration.

“Foreign-born voters have gone tremendously to the right,” the CNN expert observed. “You go back to 2020, Democrats held a 32-point lead on this issue. Immigrant voters were in the Democratic camp,” Enten said. He further explained there has been “a 40-point shift to the right among immigrant voters” in 2024. “Republicans now lead on this issue by eight points over Democrats, more so than any other group that I could find,” Enten noted.

The shift is largely responsible for President Trump’s increasing popularity amongst legal immigrants. According to the survey, since the 2016 election, Trump has seen an 11-point gain in popularity among legal immigrants. Trump experienced a 3% increase from 36% to 39% between the 2016 and 2020 elections. In 2024, the support from foreign-born Americans spiked all the way to 47%. Enten also pointed out that this may be a conservative estimate of Trump’s support from legal immigrants since some polls suggest he won a majority of the legal immigrant population. “Some polls I looked at had him barely losing that vote. Some polls I looked at had him barely winning that vote. Again, there is no bloc of voters that shifted more to the right from 2020 to 2024 than immigrant voters,” Enten underscored.

The poll seems to suggest that Democrats are losing on the issue that is currently center stage in the country. Matt Carpenter, director of FRC Action, weighed in on what caused the political realignment, telling The Washington Stand, “The seismic shift in support for stronger immigration policies among foreign-born U.S. citizens makes sense when you understand most people who legally migrated to America over the last few decades came to improve the living conditions for themselves and their families. They didn’t bum rush the border at the invitation of Biden’s autopen administration.”

Not only is the question of fairness causing the political movement to the right, but according to Carpenter, the ripple effects of rampant illegal immigration have been felt as well. “The social consequences of the open border policies of the previous administration brought havoc to many communities in America. This took the form of overburdened emergency rooms and public schools and worsened the cost-of-living crisis across the nation,” he remarked.

Carpenter illustrated his point with the most obvious example: the ongoing rioting in Los Angeles which he said serves as “another reminder of this divide.” CNN released the data just days after Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles on Sunday, and 700 additional Marines on Monday to quell the anti-ICE riots.

Each day, Americans are witnessing the debate over immigration become more and more violent, leading Carpenter and others to recognize the political ramifications. He continued, “The same migrants who followed the rules and came here because they believed America was a better place for them and their families are rightfully repulsed when they see foreign flags waved atop burning cars in the streets of an American city. President Trump sought to fulfill the mandate given to him by the voters: deport those who came here illegally.”

According to Carpenter, the movement to the right may not be over. “I think the reasonable response from these Americans is to want less chaos in our immigration policy, and I think these voters will continue shifting to the right on this issue if the response from the Left is chaos and violence,” he concluded.