A Majority Of Hispanic Americans Fear That They, Or Someone They Know, Will Get Deported
Hispanic Americans across the country are less optimistic about their position in society than they have been since the start of the Great Recession.
According to a newly released poll from Pew Research Center, 47 percent of Hispanic Americans said that their personal situation in the United States has worsened over the past year. Only 15 percent said that it had improved, while 36 percent said that it was essentially staying the course.
Those numbers are a stark departure from what they were five years ago, under former President Barack Obama. In 2013, just 15 percent of Hispanic Americans said that their situation was worse than it had been the year before, according to the polling company.
To put into perspective how significant the present year’s numbers truly are, the pessimism from Hispanic Americans hasn’t been this fraught since 2008 — the first year of the Great Recession.
However, those numbers change when you separate respondents among the lines of those who were born in the U.S. versus those who have emigrated here. 44 percent of Hispanic Americans born in the U.S. think that things have become more difficult here over the past year, while 50 percent say that things haven’t changed that much. Among those born outside of the U.S. that have since become citizens, 56 percent say things have become more difficult, with 40 percent saying that things are mostly the same.
Overall, a plurality of Hispanics have serious concerns in feeling that they have a proper place in American society.
?NEW? More Latinos Have Serious Concerns About Their Place in America Under Trumphttps://t.co/WG7ewsRRxU
— Pew Research Race and Ethnicity (@pewidentity) October 25, 2018
Hispanics also have fears about the future of the Trump administration, including concerns about deportations that transcend citizenship status. Among all Hispanic Americans, including those who are natural-born citizens or who have attained citizenship after birth, a majority — 55 percent — say that they worry that a close family member, a friend, or even they, themselves, could be deported under this administration. 44 percent say that they don’t have such fears.
Much of the blame for this pessimism, the data seems to suggest, lies with the current administration of President Donald Trump. 67 percent of Hispanic Americans said that Trump’s policies have been harmful to them.
Overall, most Hispanic Americans — the poll goes onto say — are not happy with how Trump has performed as president so far. While the Pew Research Poll has found that Americans overall only give Trump a 38 percent approval rating, among Hispanic citizens that rate is only 22 percent. Disapproval of Trump is similarly stronger among Hispanic Americans, with 69 percent stating that they don’t think that he’s done a good job in office — compared to 55 percent of Americans overall who say the same thing, at least according to recent polls.
