Most Americans think ICE has gone rogue, polls find

Six in 10 say ICE crossed the line

At least five major national polls from early 2026 found the same thing: roughly six in 10 Americans think the Trump administration’s deportation push has gone too far.

The NPR/PBS News/Marist poll put it at 65%, up from 54% last summer. AP-NORC found about six in 10 said sending federal agents into American cities went too far.

Quinnipiac landed at 60%, and NBC News hit 67%. The numbers kept pointing the same direction.

Harvard/Harris poll backs the trend

The Harvard CAPS/Harris poll added more detail to the picture. About 57% of voters said ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have gone too far.

When pollsters asked about specific incidents, the numbers climbed. About 58% said agents used too much force in Minneapolis.

Roughly 62% said ICE has violated American civil liberties, and 56% said agents have taken people randomly off the street.

Independents turned sharply against enforcement

The biggest shift showed up among independents. AP-NORC found Trump’s immigration approval among independents fell from 37% in March 2025 to just 23%.

About six in 10 independents told AP-NORC that deportation went too far, up from 46% in April 2025. The Marist poll found 71% of independents said ICE went too far.

Quinnipiac put it at 68%. Both independents and Democrats drove the shift, rising by double digits since last summer.

Republicans keep backing the program

Republicans tell a very different story. About 73% in the PBS/Marist poll approved of the job ICE is doing.

Roughly three-quarters said protesters, not agents, went too far. Only about one in four Republicans in most polls said ICE crossed the line.

The gap between Republican and independent opinion on immigration has grown wide. Where independents swung hard against enforcement, Republican support barely budged.

Deporting criminals still draws broad support

The picture gets more complicated when polls ask about specific groups.

About 73% of voters in the Harvard/Harris poll supported deporting immigrants who committed serious crimes. About 67% said local officials should cooperate with federal authorities on those cases.

But support drops fast when polls mention longtime residents, parents of U.S. citizens, or people brought here as children.

One Marquette Law School poll found support fell from 56% to 44% when the question named people with jobs and no criminal record who have lived here for years.

Question wording shapes the numbers

The range across polls, from 57% to 67% saying enforcement went too far, partly comes down to how each poll asked the question.

Polls asking about “ICE’s actions” got slightly different results than ones asking about “the administration’s treatment of undocumented immigrants” or “sending agents into cities.”

Some polls surveyed all adults while others surveyed registered voters, which also shifts the numbers.

But the direction held steady across every survey: a majority said enforcement went too far, and independents drove the shift.

Most want ICE reformed, not abolished

Americans are not calling to get rid of ICE. The NBC poll found 43% want the agency reformed, 29% want it abolished, and 29% want it to stay as-is. That means about three in four support at least some changes.

Body cameras for ICE agents drew near-universal backing, with 92% in favor in the Quinnipiac poll. About 61% said agents should not wear masks during operations.

Majorities also opposed warrantless raids at schools, churches, and on the street.

Democrats blocked DHS funding over ICE reforms

The backlash spilled into Congress. Senate Democrats blocked DHS funding bills that did not include ICE reforms.

A vote to fund the department for the rest of the fiscal year failed 52-47, well short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster.

Democrats laid out 10 reform demands, including body cameras, a ban on masks, limits on warrantless entry, and a ban on raids at schools and churches.

The White House and Democrats traded offers but stayed far apart as of mid-February.

DHS shut down but ICE kept going

DHS funding lapsed on Feb. 15, triggering a partial shutdown.

But ICE and CBP kept operating because they already had more than $70 billion from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last year. More than 90% of DHS’s roughly 260,000 employees kept working.

TSA airport screeners, though, had to work without pay, raising concerns about longer wait times if the shutdown dragged on. The Coast Guard, FEMA, and other DHS agencies also took hits.

Shutdown puts limited pressure on either side

Because ICE kept running regardless, the funding lapse did not directly slow deportation efforts.

Democrats’ leverage came from the broader impact on TSA, the Coast Guard, and other agencies, not from halting ICE itself. Republicans argued the shutdown was pointless because ICE already had money.

Both sides blamed each other as Congress left Washington for a scheduled week-long recess. Neither side had a clear path to force the other’s hand.

Immigration is no longer Trump’s strongest issue

Immigration and border security carried Trump through his 2024 campaign and into his second term. As recently as June 2025, the NBC poll found 51% approved of his handling of immigration.

By February 2026, that number dropped to 40% approval and 60% disapproval.

The Republican Party’s edge over Democrats on immigration also shrank, with roughly equal shares now trusting each party, according to AP-NORC.

The reversal on his signature issue comes just months before the 2026 midterms.

Both parties watch the midterm math

The Harvard/Harris poll found Democrats leading the 2026 generic congressional ballot by eight points among registered voters.

Trump’s immigration approval among independents fell by a net 23 points since June, according to the Navigator polling group. But Republican voters remain firmly behind Trump, and base turnout will matter in November.

Both parties are figuring out whether the deportation issue helps or hurts them in competitive districts. The coming months of ICE reform talks may shape the political landscape heading into the fall.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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