Following the deaths of and at the hands of federal agents during the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, voter support for (ICE) is rising sharply—including among members of President Donald Trump’s own political party.
A recent survey taken on Saturday, the day of Pretti’s fatal shooting, showed 19% of Republicans and 48% of American adults across the political spectrum expressing support for abolishing ICE.
This represents a significant shift from when YouGov pollsters last June, as Trump was intensifying his immigration crackdown. At that time, just 9% of Republicans and 27% of Americans overall backed shutting down ICE. Support for eliminating the agency has also jumped among independents: 47% favored its abolition in the Saturday poll, up from 25% in June.
Good and Pretti’s fatal shootings have amplified scrutiny of the aggressive tactics used by federal immigration agents under Trump’s second Administration. After Pretti’s killing, several congressional Republicans joined Democrats in into the incident.
Other recent polls indicate declining support for how Trump is executing the mass deportation effort he campaigned on successfully in 2024, as ICE’s interior U.S. operations face growing criticism.
A conducted from January 12 to 17—shortly after Good’s death on January 7—found that most voters disapproved of Trump’s handling of multiple issues, including immigration. Additionally, 49% said the country was worse off than a year prior, compared to 32% who believed it was better off.
Specifically on immigration, 58% of respondents disapproved of Trump’s approach to the issue—up from 52% in a previous Times/Siena poll in September. In the recent survey, roughly half of respondents supported the Administration’s deportation of illegal immigrants and Trump’s management of the U.S. southern border. However, most Americans criticized ICE’s enforcement tactics: 61%—including19% of Republicans, 94% of Democrats, and71% of independents—stated that ICE tactics had “gone too far.”
Trump attacked the Times/Siena poll the day it was released, calling the results “fake” and “heavily skewed toward Democrats.” (Among registered voters who responded, 45% identified as Democrats or Democratic-leaning versus 44% as Republicans or Republican-leaning.) In a separate post, he said: “Fake and Fraudulent Polling should be, virtually, a criminal offense.”
Yet this poll is part of a broader trend of surveys documenting growing disapproval of ICE’s tactics—especially after Good’s deadly shooting, which sparked protests in and —and reflects a longer-term drop in support for Trump’s immigration handling.
A poll from January9 to12 found that56% of respondents viewed the shooting as an “inappropriate use of force” by federal officers, and51% believed ICE’s enforcement actions were making cities less safe instead of safer. Over half of independent respondents shared this view on city safety. While 56% of Republicans deemed the shooting an appropriate use of force,21% called it inappropriate—7% said it was isolated, and14% said it reflected a larger problem with ICE’s operations.
Another survey, taken by January16 to18, similarly found that52% of Americans felt Good’s shooting involved excessive force—including19% of Republicans and54% of independents.
A separate poll by conducted from January8 to12 found that57% of registered voters disapproved of ICE’s immigration enforcement handling, including64% of independents and12% of Republicans.
Support for Trump’s broader immigration handling had been falling for months before the recent shootings, per multiple polls. Recent approval numbers differ sharply from those in the weeks after Trump took office last year. For example, a Pew Research Center last February found 59% of U.S. adults approved of Trump increasing deportation efforts. By December, Pew reported 53% of Americans said he was doing “too much” to deport illegal immigrants—with this sentiment rising among both Democrats and Republicans.
Approval of Trump’s immigration agenda through spring and summer. An Ipsos poll from April2025 showed more Americans disapproved (53%) than approved (46%) of his immigration handling.
