3 Weekly Takeaways: Trump Doubling Down Despite Rebuke from American Majority, Including Latinos

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Washington, DC — Yesterday, a Chicago federal judge issued a sweeping injunction against the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz in the region, calling out the administration for their callous violence, their consistent lies and a “use of force” that “shocks the conscience,” as Judge Sara Ellis wrote.

And in an important story captured by the Washington Post, “Trump deportations, high prices propel Democratic gains with Latinos,” it’s clear the same anti-immigrant overreach and cruelty cited by Judge Ellis has repelled American voters, including Latinos, as they demonstrated in Tuesday’s elections.

Don’t expect the Trump administration to adjust course, however. In fact, the President himself has pledged to double down on their deeply unpopular agenda and they are gearing up to do just that on immigration and mass deportation. Below we highlight three key takeaways to wrap the important week.

As Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice, assessed:

“The American majority is clearly rejecting Trump’s policies that make us poorer, weaker, and less safe. His anti-immigrant, mass deportation crusade—the cruelty, the chaos and the lies we are seeing – embody what voters loathe and rejected in the recent election. In particular, the scope and cruelty on daily display in Chicago and elsewhere is helping to animate Latino voters and drive their votes away from the GOP. Though President Trump is not listening and is in fact doubling down, the American public is clearly demanding a better way forward for the nation that aligns with both our values and our interests.”

Three Key Points from an Important Week

• Immigration and the mass deportation agenda animated Latino voters and their movement toward Democrats in Election 2025: As referenced above, the Post story on Latino voters included both important county-specific data about the shift toward Democrats among Latinos in 2025 and also key quotes about the role of immigration, including: “Reyna Corretjer… [a] college sophomore, who is Puerto Rican, said she has seen firsthand the fear among her family — even if they are U.S. citizens as Puerto Ricans — and friends with the heightened ICE presence in the community. ‘It’s really sad seeing and hearing my family be scared to even leave the house because we hear ICE is in town at Walmart, and just like not being able to do everyday stuff that any American should be able to do,’ she said. Some of her family members backed Trump in the 2024 election, she said, but have gone from supporting him to ‘taking a step back and realizing that he isn’t what’s best for the country.’ Also see this America’s Voice resource on 2025 exit polls results on immigration and Latino voters.

• Americans believe the Trump anti-immigrant campaign goes too far and is not what they voted for in 2024: Among the key points in the recent America’s Voice immigration polling analysis memo was the unpopularity of ICE and mass deportations, especially when details about how they are being carried out are tested. The 2025 statewide network exit polls found similar, asking whether the Trump administration’s “immigration actions” had “gone too far” and finding that strong majorities of all voters were recoiling in California (63% “gone too far” vs. 12% “not gone far enough”), New Jersey (53-14%) and Virginia (56-14%).

• The Trump administration is doubling down rather than recognizing the rebuke from the broad American majority. Despite Tuesday’s rebuke from Latino voters and the broader majority (and the rebuke from Judge Ellis), President Trump lamenting on “60 Minutes” that his immigration enforcement and raids “haven’t gone far enough,” and note that Steve Bannon yesterday called for MAGA to enact its agenda with, “more action, more intense action, more urgency”) And as AV outlined in a new fact sheet, ICE/CBP operations and plans make clear the administration is planning for its immigration and mass deportation crusade to scale up.

Key Resources

• Read the America’s Voice Fact Sheet: “Trump’s Mass Deportation Machine Operates with Haste, Deception, and Violence”
• Read the post-election statement from Vanessa Cárdenas: “Americans Recognize Trump Policies are Making Us ‘Poorer, Weaker, and Less Safe’”
• America’s Voice Exit Poll Analysis on Latino and immigration questions: “Key Immigration & Latino Findings from 2025 Exit Polls”
• Read the America’s Voice assessment of five key takeaways about Americans’ current immigration public opinion: HERE