Half of Americans support abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, according to a new poll, as opposition to Donald Trump’s aggressive federal immigration crackdown continues to grow.
YouGov analysis revealed that exactly 50% of respondents “strongly or somewhat” want the agency to be dismantled, a 5% increase from a January poll conducted amid the Minnesota deaths of American citizen protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of immigration agents.
Only 39% said they opposed abolishing ICE, a significant drop from January, when those for and against were evenly divided at 45%. The latest poll is the first time that the number of Americans calling for eliminating the agency, a frequent demand of left-wing Democrats, has reached 50%, YouGov said.
This mirrors an NBC poll last month that showed 49% disapproving of Trump’s handling of border security and immigration, traditionally a vote-winner for his Republican base.
The revelation comes amid an ongoing partial government shutdown over funding for the Department of Homeland Security responsible for implementing the Trump administration’s often violent detention and deportation policies.
It also follows a difficult appearance before Congress on Tuesday by Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, who was criticized by representatives on both sides of the House. She was questioned over her handling of immigration issues and the fatal shootings during anti-immigration protests in Minneapolis of Good, on January 7, by an ICE agent, and Pretti, 17 days later, by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents.
Noem refused to retract her statements calling the two unarmed protesters “domestic terrorists,” despite presenting no evidence to support that claim.
“When these situations occur, we always offer our condolences to those families, and I offer mine as well,” Noem said in response to a demand by Dick Durbin, a Democratic senator from Illinois and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, to drop the terrorism charge.
Durbin noted that ICE and CBP officials testified before the House judiciary committee last month that they did not provide information to Noem that Pretti in particular was a domestic terrorist, and asked her again to retract the claim.
“I got reports from the ground, from officers on the scene, and I would say it was a chaotic scene,” Noem said.
“Is it so hard to say you were wrong?” Durbin responded.
Noem’s overall performance is reportedly under scrutiny from Trump, who on several occasions appeared to soften his administration’s hardline stance on immigration in an effort to regain public support ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Tom Homan, Trump’s so-called border czar, announced last month that the controversial immigration operations in Minnesota, implemented by a wave of thousands of federal agents, would “conclude.”
Homan was sent to Minneapolis to calm tensions following the ouster of top border patrol official Gregory Bovino, the public face of “Operation Metro Surge,” who was often photographed directing agents dressed in a German military-style coat.
Bovino is now the subject of a state investigation into misconduct by federal agents during the operation, and a separate Department of Homeland Security investigation into disparaging comments he allegedly made about Daniel Rosen, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, who is Jewish.
However, weeks after Homan’s announcement, about 650 federal agents remain in the state, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported Wednesday.
A breakdown of Wednesday’s YouGov poll shows that 77% of Democrats and 52% of independents support abolishing ICE.
The majority of Republican supporters, 68%, remain opposed to abolition, although the number in favor of it increased to 23%, a “high point” according to YouGov.
