The impact of deportation policy changes on Latino immigrant communities

Recent deportations of immigrants have caused a nationwide outrage leading to widespread protests and a heightened sense of fear among immigrants and their families. This blog post summarizes some of the major themes associated with an upcoming webinar Wednesday June 25, featuring this author team that focuses on the implications of these deportations and the larger climate on Latino immigrants. The panel will make reference to their recently fielded (April to May, 2025) Latino Immigrant National Attitude Survey (LINAS) (n=1,000) which provides a timely snapshot to how immigrants are faring in the first five months of a second Trump administration.

The webinar will highlight findings related to the deportation policy’s implications for everyday life among Latino immigrants, along with how the threat of deportation is shifting the behavior of these vulnerable communities. Below are some of the highlights that the panel will be discussing in more detail: 

• The survey makes clear that Latino immigrants are feeling the effects of this shift in political and policy climates, with over half (53%) of Latino immigrants reporting that they worry a family member or close friend will be deported, and nearly one-in-five (19%) reporting that they worry a great deal and all the time.  

• A robust 69% of the sample feels that there is “a lot” of anti-immigrant, and anti-Hispanic, sentiments, policies, and attitudes in the United States. Similarly, 82% of the sample believe that there is either some or a lot of discrimination directed at immigrants right now. 

• One of the most well-documented implications of the increasing threat of deportation is the shift in behavior associated with fear of being deported or putting friends or family in harm’s way. According to the survey, 16% of Latino immigrants have avoided contacting police to report a crime or calling the police due to the deportation plans of the Trump administration and the current political environment. Similarly, one-in-10 Latino immigrants have avoided going to their children’s school or interacting with educational professionals in their children’s school. 

The panel will also examine the policy attitudes of Latino immigrants as reflected in the survey, as well as the implications of the current political climate on the health and political behavior of Latino immigrants. Below are some of the data points and emerging political views of Latino immigrants that the panel will discuss.  

• The president’s campaign suggested their deportation efforts would focus on removing violent criminals, a consistent theme across messaging from the White House more recently. However, only 29% of Latino immigrants believe that most Latino immigrants who are held in immigration detention facilities have probably committed serious crimes in the United States. 

• When asked if any aspects of their health or their personal behavior have shifted since President Trump was re-elected in 2024, over one-in-five (22%) of the sample reported that their mental health has gotten worse.  

• Political scientists have found that Latino immigrants have mobilized themselves in response to discriminatory immigration policies, which has led to an increase in both naturalization and voter registration in the past. There is early evidence that this same process is starting to develop now, as nine percent of the sample reported that they have registered to vote and eight percent have started the process to acquire permanent residency or citizenship since the Trump administration came into office in 2025.

Specifications of the survey 

The Latino Immigrant National Attitude Survey (LINAS) has an overall sample size of 1,000 Latino immigrants and was fielded from April 23, 2025, through May 13, 2025. The sample was designed to ensure variation across key demographics among the Latino community, which resulted in 44% naturalized immigrants and 56% non-citizens in the sample (27% permanent residents or green card holders). 44% of the sample are long-term residents of the United States who have lived in the country for 25 or more years, and 20% are short-term arrivals who have migrated to the United States in the last five years. The study was designed by a group of scholars specializing in immigration policy and the consequences of immigration on Latino immigrants and implemented by BSP Research. The data was collected through a blended approach, including web-based (n=741) and telephone interviews (n=259). Across both modes of data collection, respondents had the opportunity to take the survey in either English or Spanish, with 599 respondents opting for Spanish. The data was weighted to ensure that the demographics of the sample matched those defined by the U.S. Census, ensuring that the data is representative of Latino immigrants nationally.