Americans are less welcoming of immigrants without legal status: Poll

But many remain wary of harsh steps like detention camps for mass deportation

WASHINGTON - Americans have grown less welcoming towards immigrants living in the US illegally since Donald Trump's first presidency but remain wary of harsh measures like using detention camps for Trump's promised mass deportation effort, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

Some 33 per cent of respondents in the poll, conducted from Dec 5 to 10, said most or all immigrants without legal status should be allowed to stay in the United States, down from 39 per cent in Reuters/Ipsos polling done in 2017, early in Trump's first four-year term.

The share of respondents who said most or all immigrants in the US illegally should be deported was largely stable at 53 per cent, compared with 51 per cent in 2017.

The share of people who said they were not sure whether such immigrants should be allowed to stay rose to 14 per cent from 9 per cent.

The poll showed a modest hardening of views on immigration among many Americans but also pointed to potential political risks for Trump, depending on how aggressively he implements his deportation campaign after he takes office on Jan 20.

Only 30 per cent of respondents agreed with a statement that "illegal immigrants should be arrested and put in detention camps while awaiting deportation hearings", while 53 per cent disagreed.

Another 17 per cent said they did not know where they stood or declined to answer the question.

Republican pollster Whit Ayres said Trump could lose support if he splits apart families, puts immigrants into World War II-style internment camps, or deports people who were brought to the US illegally as children - a group known as "Dreamers".

"Most Americans are not going to support deporting a father who is a sole breadwinner of a family of American citizens," Mr Ayres said.