Majority of Americans Says ICE Operations Are 'Too Tough' and Making Communities Less Safe, Survey Finds

A majority of Americans now describe Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations as "too tough" when stopping and detaining people and say those actions are making communities less safe, according to new survey by CBS News that points to growing discomfort with how President Donald Trump's deportation program is being carried out.

While views of the stated deportation objectives remain mixed, assessments of ICE's approach are negative. Respondents increasingly say the administration is not prioritizing dangerous criminals and is instead attempting to deport more people than they expected. As a result, more Americans say ICE activity reduces safety in the communities where it operates than say it improves safety.

These attitudes have shifted notably after events in Minneapolis, where an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good. In the wake of that incident, overall support for the deportation program—already closely divided for months—fell to its lowest point of Trump's second term. The survey also found that Republicans overwhelmingly believe protesters have gone too far, underscoring sharp partisan divides.

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Polling released in mid-January by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reflects similar trends. It found Trump's approval rating on immigration had dropped to 38%, down from 49% earlier in the year. That poll was conducted shortly after the Minneapolis shooting and showed that immigration, once among Trump's strongest issues, has become an area of growing vulnerability even as his overall approval remains relatively stable.

Internal Republican polling reviewed by Trump's advisers and reported by Axios last week further highlights the concern. According to that report, private surveys showed declining support for the administration's immigration policies among independents, moderates and minority voters, with bout one-third of respondents said they believed the administration was primarily deporting law-abiding people rather than criminals.

A senior adviser told Axios that the president remains committed to mass deportations but is uneasy with the public optics, saying, "He wants deportations. He wants mass deportations. What he doesn't want is what people are seeing."

Public opinion on specific incidents mirrors these divisions, as CBS News explains. Views of the Minneapolis shooting break along party lines, with Republicans more likely to call it justified and Democrats and independents saying it was not. Non-MAGA Republicans are less inclined than MAGA supporters to defend the agent's actions.

When asked what should come next, Democrats say the Minneapolis events reinforce their view that ICE operations should be scaled back, while Republicans largely favor maintaining or increasing enforcement.

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