A Gallup poll released on April 19 shows the rise of Americans’ concern about immigration unauthorized access, which predates the 2022 midterm elections and is now a polarizing issue between Republicans and Democrats.

The study was conducted from March 1 to March 18 this year, before the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it would soon end the emergency powers granted to border agents during the pandemic, the “Title 42”, which allowed them to expel migrants without the opportunity to apply for asylum. We interviewed 1,017 people living in every US state and the District of Columbia.

According to survey data, 41% of Americans report great concern about the issue of illegal immigration, while another 19% are very concerned. “The 41% currently worried a great deal roughly ties the percentage found a year ago but is otherwise on the high end of Gallup readings taken over the past decade. The only time significantly more Americans were this concerned was in 2007, when 45% worried a great deal as then-President George W. Bush and Congress debated comprehensive immigration reform”, according to the publication.

According to the poll, Democrats and Republicans are moving in opposite directions when it comes to opinions on immigration. The Gallup poll says that since 2006, Democrats have been less concerned about illegal immigration. Only 18% of Democrats polled said they were "very concerned" about the issue, while 44% said they were "not at all" concerned. In contrast, Republicans surveyed (68%) said they were “very concerned” about illegal immigration. While there was a drop from the 76% who responded the same in 2021, there was a considerable increase from the 29% of respondents in 2001.

Ever since the Biden administration announced that Title 42 would end on May 23, Republicans have warned that the suspension will further encourage illegal immigration. While some Democrats celebrated the end of Title 42, others raised concerns about how the administration would handle the possible increase in people arriving at the country's border.

According to Voice of America (VOA) publication, “Speaking with reporters Tuesday [April 19], Michigan Senator Gary Peters, a Democrat, said, ‘Unless we have a well thought-out plan, I think it is something that should be revisited and perhaps delayed. I'm going to defer judgment on that until I give the administration the opportunity to fully articulate what that plan is. But I share concerns of some of my colleagues’.”

A considerable number of border arrests in March was due to record arrivals of migrants from Ukraine, Cuba, Colombia, and Nicaragua, according to DHS data. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) showed that Title 42 has been used in most of the estimated 2 million expulsions of migrants from Brazil, Central America, Haiti, Mexico, and Colombia since March 2020. […] In March, U.S. border officials registered 221,303 migrant encounters. Of those, 109,549 were expelled. The rest could have been detained, allowed to seek asylum, or paroled into the United States. In February, there were 164,973 encounters with 91,513 expulsions, according to VOA publication.

The Gallup poll concludes that since the CDC recently announced the end of Title 42 authorization on May 23, officials, and activists on both sides are weighing whether political discord is likely to escalate as the deadline approaches. “As the Gallup data show, this will only mirror the polarization among Americans on illegal immigration, with Republicans highly troubled by it and Democrats not seeing it as a major problem”.