A majority of Americans have little or no confidence in ICE

After U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot and killed two people in Texas and Maine last week, this week's Economist / YouGov Poll finds that 60% of Americans have heard about the recent killings. It appears that the news has not spread equally across the political spectrum: While the overwhelming majority (78%) of Democrats say have read, seen, or heard anything about the killings last week, smaller shares of Independents (55%) and Republicans (51%) say the same.

The recent killings may have increased support for abolishing ICE. About half (48%) of Americans somewhat or strongly support abolishing the agency, while only 40% oppose doing so. A majority (58%) of Americans who have heard about the recent killings support abolishing the agency, while only 36% oppose doing so. In contrast, one-third (33%) of Americans who have not heard about the recent killings support abolishing ICE, while 50% oppose doing so. To some extent the gap aligns with a partisan gap in likelihood of having heard of the killings, but among Independents, those who have heard of the killings are more likely than those who haven't to support abolishing ICE (55% vs. 47%). The question about abolishing ICE followed the one asking about awareness of the killings, so every respondent was at least somewhat aware of the killings when weighing in on ICE abolition.

Americans are 8 points more likely to support than oppose abolishing ICE, little changed from when we last asked. A late February Economist / YouGov Poll asked about attitudes towards ICE alongside questions about the killings of American citizens in Minneapolis and found that 50% of Americans supported abolishing ICE while 39% opposed eliminating the agency.

About three-quarters (73%) of Democrats support abolishing ICE. Independents are also more likely to support abolishing the agency than to oppose doing so (48% vs. 34%). Most Republicans (67%) oppose eliminating the agency. However, there is a divide among Republicans based on their MAGA identification. Republicans who consider themselves MAGA supporters overwhelmingly oppose abolishing ICE (80% vs. 16% who support abolishing it). But only about half (49%) of Republicans who aren't MAGA supporters oppose ICE abolition, while 38% of non-MAGA Republicans support abolishing ICE.

Even more Americans have little confidence in ICE than support abolishing it. A majority (54%) of Americans have either only a little confidence in ICE (11%) or none at all (42%). Only 22% of Americans say they have a great deal of confidence in ICE. That's slightly less than the 26% who said they had a great deal of confidence in the agency when we last asked this question in February. Americans who have heard about ICE agents' recent killings are much more likely to say they have no confidence in the agency than are those who haven't heard about the killings (56% vs. 24%).

Democrats overwhelmingly say they have no confidence at all in ICE (77%), as do about half (47%) of Independents. Only 2% of Democrats and 12% of Independents have a great deal of confidence in ICE. That stands in contrast to the majority (54%) of Republicans who say they have a great deal of confidence in the agency, though that is down from 60% in late February. There are also stark differences in the shares of MAGA Republicans and non-MAGA Republicans who say they have a great deal of confidence in ICE (74% vs. 31%).

Two possible concerns fueling Americans' weak confidence in ICE are about the agency's tactics and about the people it targets. A majority (58%) of Americans say ICE has used too much force, including 69% of Americans who have heard about immigrants killed by agents last week. Only 30% of Americans say that the use of force by ICE has been necessary and justified.

At the same time, 44% of Americans think that less than half of the people who are being deported by ICE are criminals. Only one-quarter of Americans think that most or all of the people being deported are criminals.

As confidence in ICE has fallen, so has approval of President Trump's handling of immigration. A majority (54%) somewhat or strongly disapprove of Trump's handling of immigration, while only 39% approve, for a net approval of −15. This marks Trump's lowest net approval on immigration in his second term and near his first-term low of −17 in November 2017.

Image: Getty (Ryan Murphy / Stringer)

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