Half of Americans oppose immigrant detention camps, poll finds

WASHINGTON — About half of U.S. voters oppose putting immigrants in the country illegally into detention camps while awaiting deportation, a new Reuters/ipsos poll shows, suggesting Americans may be wary of harsher enforcement plans Donald Trump is considering.

Some 54 per cent of registered voters opposed the use of detention camps while 36 per cent supported such a move and 10 per cent said they did not know or did not respond, the poll found. Still, 56 per cent said most or all immigrants in the U.S. illegally should be deported.

Republican presidential candidate Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a central plank of his reelection campaign against Democratic President Joe Biden. Immigration has emerged as a top issue for voters, particularly Republicans, in the run-up to the Nov. 5 election.

The New York Times reported last year that former President Trump, if reelected, planned to build large camps to hold immigrants pending a possible deportation.

In an interview with Time Magazine published in April, Trump said he would consider using camps but that “there wouldn’t be that much of a need for them” because people would be rapidly deported.

Tom Homan, a former Trump immigration official who could join a second administration, said tents would be needed as more immigrants in the U.S. illegally are arrested and held for deportation, exceeding existing detention space.

“We’re going to have to hold them someplace,” he said in an interview.

Homan said the tents would adhere to detention standards set by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and that they would not be “concentration camps.”

Homan said that National Guard troops could potentially support deportation operations but that law enforcement officers would need to make arrests.