Republicans split on Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
Members of law enforcement interact with protesters, as tensions rise after federal law enforcement agents were involved in a shooting incident, a week after a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, in north Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Jan 14, 2026. (Photo: Reuters/Leah Millis)
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump's Republicans are divided over whether federal immigration officers should try harder to avoid hurting people after a community activist was shot dead during an immigration raid and as violent arrests continued, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey.
While 95 per cent of Republicans continue to approve of Trump's performance as president, the poll conducted on Monday and Tuesday suggests a significant slice of Trump's backers are wary of his administration's aggressive approach to immigration enforcement. The poll found American approval of Trump's approach to immigration at its lowest point since he returned to office a year ago.
The poll concluded before a federal immigration agent shot and wounded a Venezuelan man on Wednesday night while trying to arrest him.
Poll respondents were asked to pick whether immigration officers should prioritise reducing harm to people even if this limits the number of arrests, or if they should be willing to use force even if there is a risk of serious injury or death.
Some 59 per cent of Republicans favoured a policy prioritising arrests even if people get hurt, while 39 per cent said officers should focus on reducing harm to people even if it means fewer arrests. Democrats were unified, with 96 per cent focused on avoiding injuries and 4 per cent saying immigration officers should focus on arrests. A handful of respondents did not answer the question.
Americans are following the matter closely. Trump's campaign to deport unauthorised immigrants has become the signature issue of his administration. Masked immigration officers, often in tactical military-style gear, have become a common sight across the country.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll showed nine in 10 Americans have heard at least a little about the Jan 7 shooting death in Minneapolis of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was filmed criticising immigration officers from her car before an officer fatally shot her in what Trump administration officials have described as an act of self-defence.
"SOMEONE DIED IN AN ALTERCATION WITH ICE"
The Trump administration has called Good a "domestic terrorist" who tried to run an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer over with her vehicle. Local leaders and protesters across the country have condemned the shooting, saying the fact that Good turned her wheels away from the ICE officer as she drove past him proved her peaceful intentions.
Jason Cabel Roe, a Republican political strategist who has been critical of Trump, said Good's killing put a human face on the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
"Someone died in an altercation with ICE. That is not what anyone wants to see happening."
The controversy has sparked protests across the country, adding to the ongoing conflicts between demonstrators and immigration officers outside of government buildings.
On Tuesday, small bands of protesters near a federal building in Minneapolis shouted obscenities at ICE officers, who used tear gas and flash-bang devices against demonstrators, with officers wrestling some of them to the ground before arresting them, Reuters photos and video of the clashes show.
The violence continued on Wednesday, with two bystanders allegedly intervening in the arrest of a Venezuelan immigrant who was fleeing a traffic stop. The bystanders attacked an immigration officer, who shot the Venezuelan man in the leg during the melee, according to a statement by the Department of Homeland Security.
Protesters hurled rocks and ice at law enforcement agents who fired tear gas late into the night following the shooting, and Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy military forces to Minnesota.
NEW LOW ON IMMIGRATION
Immigration policy has been a regular bright spot among Trump's approval ratings since he returned to the White House. He campaigned ahead of the 2024 presidential election on promises to enact the biggest deportation drive in decades, and his approval rating on immigration touched as high as 50 per cent in February 2025, compared to his highest overall approval rating of 47 per cent in the first days of his administration.
Trump's overall approval rating in the latest poll slipped to 41 per cent, down from 42 per cent in a poll conducted earlier in January, while his approval on immigration slipped to a record low of 40 per cent, from 41 per cent when that question was last asked in December. Even with the decline, however, Trump's approval on immigration remains higher than the ratings Americans gave his predecessor, Joe Biden, during most of the Democrat's 2021-2025 administration.
The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll gathered responses from 1,217 US adults nationwide and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
