Half of Americans back abolishing ICE amid Trump crackdown, poll finds

Half of Americans support the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, a new poll has found, as opposition to Donald Trump’s aggressive federal immigration crackdown continues to grow.

The analysis by YouGov revealed that exactly 50% of respondents “strongly or somewhat” want to see the agency dismantled, a 5% rise from a January poll taken between the deaths in Minnesota of US citizen protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti by immigration officers.

Only 39% said they opposed abolishing ICE, a significant drop from January when those for and against were evenly split at 45%. The latest poll is the first time that the number of Americans calling for scrapping the agency, a frequent demand of left-wing Democrats, has reached 50%, YouGov said.

It mirrors an NBC poll last month that showed 49% disapproval of Trump’s handling of border security and immigration, traditionally a vote winner from his Republican base.

The revelation comes amid an ongoing partial government shutdown over funding of the homeland security department responsible for implementing the Trump administration’s often violent detention and deportation policies.

It also follows a rocky appearance before Congress on Tuesday by Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who came under fire from representatives on both sides of the House. She was challenged on her handling of immigration matters, and the fatal shootings during anti-immigration enforcement protests in Minneapolis of Good, on 7 January by an ICE agent, and Pretti 17 days later by officers from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Noem refused to retract her statements calling the two unarmed protesters “domestic terrorists”, despite presenting no evidence to support the assertion.

“When we have these situations happen, we always offer our condolences to those families, and I offer mine as well,” Noem in response to a demand by Dick Durbin, a Democratic Illinois senator and ranking member of the chamber’s judiciary committee, to withdraw the terrorism allegation.

Durbin pointed out that ICE and CBP officials testified to 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 was getting reports from the ground, from agents at the scene, and I would say that it was a chaotic scene,” Noem said.

“Is it so hard to say you were wrong?” Durbin responded.

Noem’s performance overall has been reported to be under scrutiny by Trump, who has on several occasions appeared to soften his administration’s hardline stance on immigration in an effort to win back public support ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Tom Homan, Trump’s so-called border czar, announced last month that controversial immigration operations in Minnesota, enacted by a surge of thousands of federal officers, would “conclude”.

Homan was sent to Minneapolis to calm tensions following the removal of senior border patrol official Gregory Bovino, the public face of “Operation Metro Surge” who was often photographed directing agents while dressed in a German military-style overcoat.

Bovino is now the subject of a state investigation for misconduct by federal officers during the operation, and a separate homeland security department inquiry into disparaging remarks he allegedly made about Daniel Rosen, US attorney for the district of Minnesota, who is Jewish.

Weeks after Homan’s announcement, however, close to 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.

Most Republican supporters, 68%, continue to oppose abolition, although the number in favor of it grew to 23%, a “high point” according to YouGov.