Why Did Immigrants Support Trump?

The political problem of the border arises from a broader crisis of legitimacy of the state.

U.S. Border Patrol agents prepare to transport immigrants for processing at the U.S.–Mexico border fence near Sasabe, Arizona, on January 19, 2025. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Why on Earth did an Ecuadorian undocumented migrant—a single mother and low-wage worker—root for Trump? Back in the summer of 2024, I chatted about the election with a woman working at the hair salon. She said she did not understand U.S. politics all that well. But she did understand that Trump was tough, and that he promised to protect people against criminal gangs. I replied that Trump’s policies would put her in danger. She responded that she knew the U.S. government was no friend of hers, but she had managed to stay in the United States—so far.

Today I can’t stop thinking about that conversation. As I write in February, the effects of the new administration’s executive orders are already being felt at the southern border. Trump administration officials, who describe the border as a war zone, are sending troops there to repel what they call an “invasion.” I saw footage of a woman in Ciudad Juárez weeping in despair as her longed-for asylum appointment vanished, together with the just-deleted CBP One app, which had previously allowed migrants to apply for interviews at ports of entry. She had likely waited for months to make her case for asylum, but now her chances are gone.

“The border” has become a fixation in American politics. For most people it is reducible to the question of what to do about uncontrolled immigration. Trump supporters believe that there is a surge in illegal crossings that puts them in danger and undermines citizens’ well-being. To rally this group, the administration and its allies in Congress promise to deliver security through executive orders and laws like the Laken Riley Act, named after a nursing student who was killed by an undocumented Venezuelan migrant last year. The law empowers federal immigration enforcement agencies to detain and deport any unauthorized immigrant merely accused (not charged) of minor crimes such as shoplifting.

On the other side are those who fear what will happen to the vulnerable people trying to cross the border who have been turned into scapegoats by the right. They see that Trump’s policies undermine the legal rights of asylum seekers and the human rights of all migrants. But they often presume that all immigrants share a common identity, and they think that there should be solidarity among them. It is hard for people in this group (like many of those who write and read this magazine, including myself) to understand why anyone would prefer Trump—let alone a person whom his policies target directly. Why, we ask, did the lady at the hair salon support him?

I can’t answer for her. But I think the reason this puzzles us is that we’re asking the wrong questions about the border. Maybe the problem is not primarily about migrants and their communities and identities. Maybe the problem is not with “them,” but with the states that both need those migrants and want to be rid of them.

Border crossings have complex roots. Migra...