# Why Francis Foster says deportation tactics can erode support

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/why-francis-foster-says-deportation-tactics-can-erode/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Francis Foster](https://realalpha.app/people/francis-foster/) (Host) · TRIGGERnometry
- Host: [Konstantin Kisin](https://realalpha.app/people/konstantin-kisin/) · TRIGGERnometry
- Show: TRIGGERnometry
- Episode: [The Midterms Breakdown + Russell Brand Found Guilty - Off the Fence](https://realalpha.app/v/RplVpJh7uEE/), Nov 6, 2026
- Moment: 13:37 to 16:37 of the episode (3 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/why-francis-foster-says-deportation-tactics-can-erode/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/RplVpJh7uEE/?t=817

## Quote

> “When they are confronted with the **visual imagery and the narrative** stories of what happens to people who are deported and how they're deported and seeing all of that happen.”
> — [Francis Foster](https://realalpha.app/people/francis-foster/) at [15:58](https://realalpha.app/v/RplVpJh7uEE/?t=958) · TRIGGERnometry

## Takeaways

1. Foster says support for closing the border can coexist with objections to enforcement.
2. He points to images and accounts of how deportations happen.
3. He argues support depends on how a policy is carried out.

## About this segment

Francis Foster argues that voters may support closing the border but turn against enforcement when they see how deportations are carried out. He says the method can determine whether support lasts.

From “The Midterms Breakdown + Russell Brand Found Guilty - Off the Fence”, Nov 6, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/RplVpJh7uEE/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[13:43](https://realalpha.app/v/RplVpJh7uEE/?t=823) into other details. Well, you mentioned it there. I mean, the interesting thing is how do you divorce foreign policy from the economy? And this is part of the big debate here in America, especially on the right, because there are people who say, well, look, look at the polling that Winston's just presented. Foreign policy is not a big issue for voters. And in fact, they would argue the reason that prices have gone up as much as they did is trump's tariffs policy which was why it was actually quietly but widely unpopular on the right with his own supporters and many people in the commentariat and the the problem with that argument is prices for everything have gone up across the world so if it was about trump's tariffs policy that wouldn't be driving the the rising prices of everything in the UK, in France, in Germany, all over Europe, etc.

[14:39](https://realalpha.app/v/RplVpJh7uEE/?t=879) The other thing probably worth mentioning is how little credit Trump has got for his immigration policies. And in fact, one of the key demographics that he massively slid back with was his panics. And a lot of people attribute that to the fact that while closing the border was kind of popular with everybody. The ICE raids, the way that they were done, some of the visuals, some of the mistakes that were made, they really were something that angered the Hispanic community in particular, but actually angered many people across the board. And so people who were very, very supportive of the idea of closing borders, nonetheless found themselves in opposition to immigration policy overall because of what they perceived as being the excesses of it and not to sidetrack the conversation entirely but it's I think there's some relevance here for the

[15:37](https://realalpha.app/v/RplVpJh7uEE/?t=937) debates that we have in the UK and elsewhere about you know there's this very popular I certainly on the fringes of the right very popular idea of you know what we need is mass deportations I think one of the big takeaways from all of this is actually that when the public, even some of whom are prepared to accept or even support the idea of, you know, we've got a big problem with illegal immigration, we've got to deal with it.

[16:04](https://realalpha.app/v/RplVpJh7uEE/?t=964) When they are confronted with the visual imagery and the narrative stories of what happens to people who are deported and how they're deported and seeing all of that happen. actually that's when the rubber meets the road and you see that it's one thing to say that you care about this issue and it's a totally different thing uh to actually carry out and and have a sustained policy on that that people will continue to support um so that there's a mix of things but