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With hopes for asylum in U.S. dashed, migrants in Tijuana ponder next moves

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With hopes for asylum in U.S. dashed, migrants in Tijuana ponder next moves

Haitian migrants are among those staying at the Albergue Assabil shelter in Tijuana. Many Haitians, who fled gang violence in their homeland, have been in limbo, living at the shelter since the U.S. immigration crackdown.

When the Russian man arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border on March 1, he knew he was too late. Still, he held on to hope that even with President Trump in office he could be let into the United States to seek asylum.

Slavik, a 37-year-old engineer, said he fled Russia after being beaten by security forces for supporting the opposing political party. He had hoped to meet U.S. immigration officials to apply for asylum, he said, and has friends willing to sponsor him.

A woman in dark shirt runs a blade over the head of a bald man seated with strips of paper over his back, with hair on them

Alicia Ayala, with Agape For All Nations Ministries International, shaves the head of Russian migrant Slavik, 37, at the Albergue Assabil shelter in Tijuana.

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Instead, he spent weeks at a shelter for migrants in Tijuana as he mulled over what to do next.

“I just tried to do by rules and wait,” said Slavik, who asked to be identified by his nickname for fear of retribution. “There is nothing else now. All immigration will be illegally.”

In Tijuana, thousands of migrants such as Slavik had tried to secure an appointment with immigration officials through a Biden administration phone application, but Trump canceled the program, in effect blocking access to asylum. Many have since left the region.

With no way to legally enter the U.S., the mood among migrants still in Tijuana has shifted from cautious optimism to hopelessness. Shelters are no longer full, and directors say those who remain are among the most vulnerable.

Making matters worse, funding cuts by the Trump administration to the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, have brought some shelters to the brink of closure, tightened others’ budgets and significantly reduced migrant healthcare services. Enduring organizations now struggle to fill the gaps.

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“As lawyers, we want to give people solutions, but there are none now,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, co-founder and chief executive of the Los Angeles-based Immigrant Defenders Law Center. She visits Tijuana shelters a few times a month. “It’s them asking a lot of questions and us saying, ‘I’m so sorry.’”

People seated in a room with a framed print in Arabic script on the wall

Haitian migrants stay at the Albergue Assabil shelter in Tijuana. The center serves mostly Muslim migrants but also people from all over the world.

Although illegal border crossings are down to a trickle, Toczylowski and other advocates believe they will eventually begin to increase.

Slavik fled his homeland in 2022, first living in Turkey and Georgia before realizing that, as Russian allies, those countries weren’t safe.

He can’t go back to Russia, where he would be considered a terrorist sponsor for donating to the campaign of Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s biggest political rival, who died under suspicious circumstances last year.

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But staying in Mexico or elsewhere in Latin America would be difficult, Slavik said, because he doesn’t speak Spanish. He speaks basic English and has considered going to Canada, but friends told him it’s difficult as well to obtain asylum there.

Now Slavik is starting to feel like he has no other choice but to try to get into the U.S. illegally.

“Maybe this is one chance,” he said. “If a lot of people do it, then maybe I can do it.”

Slavik stayed at Albergue Assabil, a shelter that serves mostly Muslim migrants. Director Angie Magaña said half of the 130 people living there before the U.S. presidential election in the fall have since left. Many went back to their home countries — including Russia, Haiti, Congo, Tajikistan and Afghanistan — despite the dangers they could face. Others went to Panama, she said.

On a recent Friday, the shelter was bustling. Haircuts were being offered in the courtyard. A truck pulled up outside, and residents helped carry in cases of donated bottled water. Inside the community center, those having breakfast and tea cleared the tables as members of a humanitarian organization arrived to play games with the children.

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A woman in a gray shirt stands next to another woman, in a red shirt, holding the hand of a boy

Angie Magaña, left, director of the Albergue Assabil shelter in Tijuana, waits for a delivery of donated items.

Magaña said she’s frank with those who remain: “Most people have the hope that something will happen. I tell them their best bet is to get asylum here” in Mexico.

Toczylowski said this administration differs substantially from Trump’s first term, when she could seek humanitarian entry for particularly desperate cases, such as a woman fleeing a dangerous relationship. Now whenever a woman says her abuser has found her and she asks Toczylowski what she can do, “it’s the first time in my career that we can say, ‘There’s no option that exists for you.’”

In the weeks after the phone app for border appointments was eliminated, Toczylowski brought vulnerable families, including those with children who have disabilities, to the San Ysidro port of entry.

She said a Border Patrol agent told them there was no process to seek asylum and turned them away.

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The U.S. military has added layers of concertina wire to six miles of the border fence near San Ysidro.

“Ideally, it deters them from crossing” illegally, said Jeffrey Stalnaker, acting chief patrol agent of the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector. “We would rather have them enter at a port of entry, where it’s much safer, and hopefully this guides them in that direction.”

He did not address the fact that the government has essentially stopped considering asylum requests at ports of entry. Toczylowski said that in her experience, limited exceptions have been made for unaccompanied children.

 Migrant Haitians stay at the Albergue Assabil Shelter in Tijuana on March 22, 2025. Many

Migrant Haitians stay at the Albergue Assabil shelter in Tijuana. Many Haitians, who fled gang violence in Haiti, have been in limbo, living at this Muslim shelter since the U.S. immigration crackdown.

The halting of USAID funds is also transforming life at the border. On his first day in office, Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order freezing U.S. foreign aid payments for 90 days, pending a review of efficiency and alignment with foreign policy. The order says foreign aid is “not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values.”

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An April 3 report by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute found that up to $2.3 billion in migration-related grants appear on leaked lists shared with Congress of terminated foreign aid from USAID and the State Department. Among the funding — which provided humanitarian assistance, countered human trafficking and enabled refugee resettlement — was $200 million focused specifically on deterring migration from Central America.

The fallout from the cuts has already begun, the report states. For instance, the government of Ecuador used the withdrawal of foreign aid to justify rescinding amnesty for Venezuelan migrants, which could have dissuaded some from continuing north toward the United States.

In Tijuana, Trump’s order led to the closure of a health and social services clinic called Comunidad AVES. A longtime shelter called Casa del Migrante is now on the brink of closure after USAID-funded organizations scaled back their support, leaving its leaders on a desperate search for replacement funding.

Midwife Ximena Rojas and her team of two doulas run a birthing center and offer sexual and reproductive care to migrants.

Two women sit, each holding a child in their lap

Midwives Xanic Zamudio, left, and Ximena Rojas sit with Rojas’ children next to a birthing tub they use in Rojas’ home in Tijuana. Since healthcare services for migrants have shut down, the midwives have been overwhelmed with requests for services such as prenatal care, family planning and pregnancy tests.

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Rojas sees 20 patients a day, three days a week. Her services are crucial: Many of the women she sees have never had a Pap smear and some were sexually assaulted on the migration route.

With the closure of AVES and concerns about Casa del Migrante — which has a partnership with the Tijuana government for weekly doctor visits — Rojas said the pressure is mounting on her small operation to somehow expand its reach.

“We are at max capacity,” she said. “We need an army.”

Rojas said she’s considering opening a food bank for migrants to make up for the loss of U.S.-government supported assistance.

“Our goal is to diminish infant death, also maternal death. The best way to do it is with nutrition,” Rojas said. “I give them a prenatal vitamin every day, but if they are eating [only] a banana a day, it’s like, a vitamin can only do so much.”

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Many shelters counted on funds from the International Organization for Migration for groceries. At Espacio Migrante, the money paid for imported ingredients that allowed families from countries such as Russia and Uzbekistan to cook religiously or culturally appropriate meals.

At La Casita de Union Trans, a shelter for transgender women, the 6,000 pesos the facility got each month (about $300) went toward basic necessities — eggs, cooking oil and milk.

A woman in a brown coat stands near a metal door and a wall painted with a large butterfly

Susy Barrales is the director of La Casita de Union Trans, a shelter for transgender women in Tijuana. The shelter is currently houses five transgender migrants.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

But director Susy Barrales said U.S. politics won’t stop trans women from seeking safety, or the shelter trying to support them.

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“I want the girls to study, to obtain a profession, so they can confront anything that comes their way — because I’ve done it,” said Barrales, who is studying for a social work license. “We are going to keep striving.”

Shelter residents include Miranda Torres, 31, a hairstylist who fled Venezuela in July after she was raped by strangers and police refused to investigate. She said the assault infected her with HIV. Venezuela’s ongoing economic collapse meant she had no access to treatment.

Torres said she walked north through the Darien Gap, a dangerous 60-mile stretch of jungle that straddles the border dividing Colombia and Panama, where she was sexually assaulted again.

A woman seated on the lower half of a bunk bed in a room with a ceiling fan and clothes hanging on the right

Venezuelan migrant Miranda Torres, 31, cries as she recalls the violence she endured while traveling from her homeland to Tijuana. She has been staying at La Casita de Union Trans.

In Oaxaca, Mexico, she was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer and went through surgery and chemotherapy. She now bears a round scar on her neck and covers her bald head with a wig.

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After taking time to recover, Torres finally arrived in Tijuana in December, where she slept atop a cardboard box on the street while making repeated and increasingly dangerous attempts to enter the U.S.

Unable to secure an appointment through the phone app, she went to the San Ysidro port of entry, waiting outside for four days to speak with an agent. She was turned away and then detained by Mexican immigration officials before being released because of her health conditions.

Torres said men belonging to a criminal group began to target her, saying they would harm her if she didn’t cross the border. So she attempted to climb the border fence but was too weak to hoist herself up. Then they told her to swim around the fence that extends into the Pacific Ocean. She nearly drowned.

Now, Torres has given up on the U.S. and is applying for asylum in Mexico.

“My dreams are in my head, not in any particular country,” she said, seated on a bunk bed in one of La Casita’s two bedrooms while Chappell Roan’s hit “Pink Pony Club” played from someone’s phone in the living room.

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“If they’re not possible in the U.S., I’ll make them happen here.”

A woman seen in silhouette in the entryway of a building with lights on inside

Dessire López walks back inside La Casita de Union Trans in Tijuana. López is a health advocate at the shelter.

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CBS News correspondent accuses Bari Weiss of ‘political’ move in pulling ‘60 Minutes’ piece

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CBS News correspondent accuses Bari Weiss of ‘political’ move in pulling ‘60 Minutes’ piece

A “60 Minutes” story on the Trump administration’s imprisonment of hundreds of deported Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador was pulled by CBS News Editor-In-Chief Bari Weiss shortly before it was scheduled to air Sunday night.

The unusual decision drew a sharp rebuke from Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent for the piece.

Alfonsi said the decision was motivated by politics, according to an email she circulated to colleagues and viewed by the Times. Alfonsi noted that the story was ready for air after being vetted by the network’s attorneys and the standards and practices department.

“It is factually correct,” Alfonsi wrote. “In my view, pulling it now — after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”

According to the CBS News press department’s description of the segment, Alfonsi spoke to released deportees who described “the brutal and torturous conditions they endured inside CECOT,” one of El Salvador’s harshest prisons.

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In a statement, a representative for CBS News said the report called “Inside CECOT” will air in a future “60 Minutes” broadcast. “We determined it needed additional reporting,” the representative said.

Weiss viewed the segment late Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly. She had a number of issues with story and asked for additional reporting, which could not be completed in time for airing on Sunday. A press release promoting the story went out Friday.

Weiss reportedly wanted the story to have an interview with an official in President Trump’s administration.

But Alonsi said in her email the program “requested responses to questions and/or interviews” with the the Department of Homeland Security, the White House and the State Department.

“Government silence is a statement, not a VETO,” Alfonsi wrote. “Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”

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Alfonsi’s email said she learned the story was pulled on Saturday and that she had not discussed the matter with Weiss.

Even if Weiss’ concerns might be valid, the sudden postponement of a “60 Minutes” piece after it has been promoted on air, on social media and through listings on TV grids is a major snafu for the network.

For Weiss, it’s perilous situation as her every move as a digital media entrepreneur with no experience in television is being closely scrutinized.

As the founder of the conservative-friendly digital news site who was personally recruited by Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison, journalists at CBS News and media industry observers are watching to see if Weiss’ actions are tilting its editorial content to the right.

Before it was acquired by Skydance Media, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a Trump lawsuit making the dubious claim that a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris was deceptively edited to aid her 2024 presidential election campaign against him.

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Trump recently said “60 Minutes” is “worse” under Paramount’s new ownership following an interview with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, in which she was highly critical of the president and his administration.

Paramount acquired the Free Press for $150 million as part of the deal to bring Weiss over. Her first major move was to air a highly sympathetic town hall with Erika Kirk, the widow of slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. Erika Kirk has taken over as head of Turning Point USA, the political organization her husband founded.

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DHS responds after reports CISA chief allegedly failed polygraph for classified intel access

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DHS responds after reports CISA chief allegedly failed polygraph for classified intel access

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is disputing reports that acting Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Madhu Gottumukkala failed a polygraph after seeking access to highly sensitive intelligence, as an internal investigation and the suspension of multiple career cybersecurity officials deepen turmoil inside the agency, according to a report.

Politico reported that Gottumukkala pushed for access to a tightly restricted intelligence program that required a counter-intelligence polygraph and that at least six career staffers were later placed on paid administrative leave for allegedly misleading leadership about the requirement, an assertion DHS strongly denies.

The outlet said its reporting was based on interviews with four former and eight current cybersecurity officials, including multiple Trump administration appointees who worked with Gottumukkala or had knowledge of the polygraph examination and the events that followed. All 12 were granted anonymity over concerns about retaliation, according to Politico.

DHS pushed back on the reporting, saying the polygraph at issue was not authorized and that disciplinary action against career staff complied with department policy.

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KRISTI NOEM SAYS BIDEN USED DHS ‘TO INVADE THE COUNTRY WITH TERRORISTS’

DHS disputes reports that acting CISA Director Madhu Gottumukkala failed a polygraph as staff are suspended amid an internal investigation and intel access dispute. (CISA Facebook)

“Acting Director Madhu Gottumukkala did not fail a sanctioned polygraph test. An unsanctioned polygraph test was coordinated by staff, misleading incoming CISA leadership,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “The employees in question were placed on administrative leave, pending conclusion of an investigation.”

“We expect and require the highest standards of performance from our employees and hold them directly accountable to uphold all policies and procedures,” she continued. “Acting Director Gottumukkala has the complete and full support of the Secretary and is laser focused on returning the agency to its statutory mission.”

Politico also reported that Gottumukkala failed a polygraph during the final week of July, citing five current officials and one former official.

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WHITE HOUSE CALLS REPORT ABOUT TRUMP CONSIDERING FIRING NOEM ‘TOTAL FAKE NEWS’

DHS disputes reports that acting CISA Director Madhu Gottumukkala failed a polygraph as staff are suspended amid an internal investigation and intel access dispute. (CISA Facebook)

The test was administered to determine whether he would be eligible to review one of the most sensitive intelligence programs shared with CISA by another U.S. spy agency, according to the outlet.

That intelligence was part of a controlled access program with strict distribution limits, and the originating agency required any CISA personnel granted need-to-know access to first pass a counter-intelligence polygraph, according to four current officials and one former official cited by Politico.

As a civilian agency, most CISA employees do not require access to such highly classified material or a polygraph to be hired, though polygraphs are commonly used across the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence community to protect the government’s most sensitive information.

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ICE LEADERSHIP SHAKEUP EXPOSES GROWING DHS FRICTION OVER DEPORTATION TACTICS, PRIORITIES

A person administers a polygraph test.  (Getty Images)

Politico reported that senior staff raised questions on at least two occasions about whether Gottumukkala needed access to the intelligence, but said he continued pressing for it even if it meant taking a polygraph, citing four current officials.

The outlet also reported that an initial access request in early June, signed by mid-level CISA staff, was denied by a senior agency official who determined there was no urgent need-to-know and noted that the agency’s previous deputy director had not viewed the program.

That senior official was later placed on administrative leave for unrelated reasons in late June, and a second access request signed by Gottumukkala was approved in early July after the official was no longer in the role, according to current officials cited by Politico.

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KRISTI NOEM FACES FIRST MAJOR HOMELAND SECURITY GRILLING AS LAWMAKERS PRESS HER ON TERROR THREATS

DHS disputes reports that acting CISA Director Madhu Gottumukkala failed a polygraph as staff are suspended amid an internal investigation and intel access dispute. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Despite being advised that access to the most sensitive material was not essential to his job and that lower-classification alternatives were available, Gottumukkala continued to pursue access, officials told the outlet.

Officials interviewed by Politico said they could not definitively explain why Gottumukkala did not pass the July polygraph and cautioned that failures can occur for innocuous reasons such as anxiety or technical errors, noting that polygraph results are generally not admissible in U.S. courts.

On Aug. 1, shortly after the polygraph, at least six career staff involved in scheduling and approving the test were notified in letters from then–acting DHS Chief Security Officer Michael Boyajian that their access to classified national security information was being temporarily suspended for potentially misleading Gottumukkala, according to officials and a letter reviewed by Politico.

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NOEM HITS BACK AT FEMA CRITICS, REVEALS VISION FOR DISASTER RELIEF AGENCY

“This action is being taken due to information received by this office that you may have participated in providing false information to the acting head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) regarding the existence of a requirement for a polygraph examination prior to accessing certain programs,” the letter said. “The above allegation shows deliberate or negligent failure to follow policies that protect government information, which raises concerns regarding an individual’s trustworthiness, judgment, reliability or willingness and ability to safeguard classified information.”

In a separate letter dated Aug. 4, the suspended employees were informed by Acting CISA Chief Human Capital Officer Kevin Diana that they had been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation, according to current and former officials and a copy reviewed by Politico.

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Gottumukkala was appointed CISA deputy director in May and previously served as commissioner and chief information officer for South Dakota’s Bureau of Information and Technology, which oversees statewide technology and cybersecurity initiatives.

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CISA said in a May press release that Gottumukkala has more than two decades of experience in information technology and cybersecurity across the public and private sectors.

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News Analysis: Trump’s math problem: Rising prices, falling approval ratings

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News Analysis: Trump’s math problem: Rising prices, falling approval ratings

President Trump made dozens of promises when he campaigned to retake the White House last year, from boosting economic growth to banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports.

But one pledge stood out as the most important in many voters’ eyes: Trump said he would not only bring inflation under control, but push grocery and energy prices back down.

“Starting the day I take the oath of office, I will rapidly drive prices down, and we will make America affordable again,” he said in 2024. “Your prices are going to come tumbling down, your gasoline is going to come tumbling down, and your heating bills and cooling bills are going to be coming down.”

He hasn’t delivered. Gasoline and eggs are cheaper than they were a year ago, but most other prices are still rising, including groceries and electricity. The Labor Department estimated Thursday that inflation is running at 2.7%, only a little better than the 3% Trump inherited from Joe Biden; electricity was up 6.9%.

And that has given the president a major political problem: Many of the voters who backed him last year are losing faith.

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“I voted for Trump in 2024 because he was promising America first … and he was promising a better economy,” Ebyad, a nurse in Texas, said on a Focus Group podcast hosted by Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell. “It feels like all those promises have been broken.”

Since Inauguration Day, the president’s job approval has declined from 52% to 43% in the polling average calculated by statistician Nate Silver. Approval for Trump’s performance on the economy, once one of his strongest points, has sunk even lower to 39%.

That’s dangerous territory for a president who hopes to help his party keep its narrow majority in elections for the House of Representatives next year.

To Republican pollsters and strategists, the reasons for Trump’s slump are clear: He overpromised last year and he’s under-performing now.

“The most important reasons he won in 2024 were his promises to bring inflation down and juice the economy,” Republican pollster Whit Ayres said. “That’s the reason he won so many voters who traditionally had supported Democrats, including Hispanics. … But he hasn’t been able to deliver. Inflation has moderated, but it hasn’t gone backward.”

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Last week, after deriding complaints about affordability as “a Democrat hoax,” Trump belatedly launched a campaign to convince voters that he’s at work fixing the problem.

But at his first stop, a rally in Pennsylvania, he continued arguing that the economy is already in great shape.

“Our prices are coming down tremendously,” he insisted.

“You’re doing better than you’ve ever done,” he said, implicitly dismissing voters’ concerns.

He urged families to cope with high tariffs by cutting back: “You know, you can give up certain products,” he said. “You don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter. Two or three is nice, but you don’t need 37 dolls.”

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Earlier, in an interview with Politico, Trump was asked what grade he would give the economy. “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus,” he said.

On Wednesday, the president took another swing at the issue in a nationally televised speech, but his message was basically the same.

“One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead,” he said. “Now we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world. … Inflation is stopped, wages are up, prices are down.”

Republican pollster David Winston, who has advised GOP members of Congress, said the president has more work to do to win back voters who supported him in 2024 but are now disenchanted.

“When families are paying the price for hamburger that they used to pay for steak, there’s a problem, and there’s no sugarcoating it,” he said. “The president’s statements that ‘we have no inflation’ and ‘our groceries are down’ have flown in the face of voters’ reality.”

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Another problem for Trump, pollsters said, is that many voters believe his tariffs are pushing prices higher — making the president part of the problem, not part of the solution. A YouGov poll in November found that 77% of voters believe tariffs contribute to inflationary pressures.

Trump’s popularity hasn’t dropped through the floor; he still has the allegiance of his fiercely loyal base. “He is at his lowest point of his second term so far, but he is well within the range of his job approval in the first term,” Ayres noted.

Still, he has lost significant chunks of his support among independent voters, young people and Latinos, three of the “swing voter” groups who put him over the top in 2024.

Inflation isn’t the only issue that has dented his standing.

He promised to lead the economy into “a golden age,” but growth has been uneven. Unemployment rose in November to 4.6%, the highest level in more than four years.

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He promised massive tax cuts for the middle class, but most voters say they don’t believe his tax cut bill brought them any benefit. “It’s hard to convince people that they got a tax break when nobody’s tax rates were actually cut,” Ayres noted.

He kept his promise to launch the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history — but many voters complain that he has broken his promise to focus on violent criminals. In Silver’s average, approval of his immigration policies dropped from 52% in January to 45% now.

A Pew Research Center survey in October found that 53% of adults, including 71% of Latinos, think the administration has ordered too many deportations. However, most voters approve of Trump’s measures on border security.

Republican pollsters and strategists say they believe Trump can reverse his downward momentum before November’s congressional election, but it may not be easy.

“You look at what voters care about most, and you offer policies to address those issues,” GOP strategist Alex Conant suggested. “That starts with prices. So you talk about permitting reform, energy prices, AI [artificial intelligence] … and legislation to address healthcare, housing and tax cuts. You could call it the Affordability Act.”

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“A laser focus on the economy and the cost of living is job one,” GOP pollster Winston said. “His policies on regulation, energy and taxes should have a positive impact, but the White House needs to emphasize them on a more consistent basis.”

“People voted for change in 2024,” he warned. “If they don’t get it — if inflation doesn’t begin to recede — they may vote for change again in 2026.”

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