CNN’s chief data analyst Harry Enten on Thursday pointed to a “big change” in Americans’ stances on immigration policy between 2016 and now.

Enten said a majority of Americans have gotten “much closer” to President Donald Trump, noting that 56% of registered voters in 2025 favored a government effort to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, per a poll by The Washington Post.

This marks a double-digit percentage increase from 2016 when just 38% of Americans indicated that they’d back such an effort.

“I think that’s a big part of the reason why Americans are increasingly saying the country is on the right track when it comes to immigration policy and why Donald Trump’s net approval rating on that issue is in the positive,” Enten told CNN’s Kate Bolduan.

Moments earlier, Enten pulled up figures showing the president’s net approval rating on immigration leaped from -12 points in April 2017 to +1 point this month.

He went on to add that a “big reason” why Trump has kept a focus on immigration is due to how Americans view his handling of immigration compared to former President Joe Biden.

Enten turned to data from December showing that 14% of Americans considered the U.S. to be on the “right” track when it comes to immigration while 62% of others considered the country to be on the “wrong” track.

When asked how the U.S. is faring on immigration this month under Trump, 45% of Americans found the country to be on the “right” track while 42% indicated that it was on the “wrong” track.

Enten’s analysis comes as Trump officials face increased pushback on immigration this week as his administration defies a Supreme Court order to facilitate the return of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to a Salvadoran prison.

A federal judge, in a separate case this week, said there’s cause to hold Trump officials in criminal contempt for ignoring his orders to turn flights around that carried Venezuelan migrants to the prison known for its brutal conditions.

H/T: Mediaite