Poll: Nearly half of Canadians want to deport people who are illegally crossing into Canada from the United States, and a similar number disapprove of how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is handling the influx

A significant minority, four out of 10 respondents, said that the border crossers could make Canada "less safe," underlining the potential political risk for Trudeau's Liberal government. The increasing flow of hundreds of asylum-seekers of African and Middle Eastern origin from the United States in recent months has become a contentious issue in Canada. There has been broad bipartisan support for high levels of legal immigration for decades in Canada. But Trudeau has come under pressure over the flow of the illegal migrants. He is questioned about it every time he appears in parliament, from opponents on the left, who want more asylum-seekers to be allowed in, and critics on the right, who say that the migrants pose a potential security risk. Canadians appeared to be just as concerned about illegal immigration as their American neighbors. Some 48% of Canadians said that they supported “increasing the deportation of people living in Canada illegally.” When asked specifically about the recent border crossings from the United States, the same number - 48% - said that Canada should "send these migrants back to the U.S." In the United States, where President Donald Trump was elected partly on his promise to boost deportations, 50% of adults supported “increasing the deportation of illegal immigrants.”