More than half of U.S. citizens believe the presence of ICE agents in American cities is making them less safe, according to a new poll.
Fifty-one percent of people surveyed by SSRS on behalf of CNN said they considered the officers surging into Democrat-run cities like Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago, and Los Angeles as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented migrants had had a negative impact.
Another 31 percent said they believed the opposite – that the agents were making a positive difference – and 18 percent said they had not noticed a difference either way.
The poll was conducted in the aftermath of the killing of Renee Nicole Good on a residential street in Minneapolis on January 7.
The 37-year-old mother-of-three was shot dead behind the wheel of her SUV by ICE agent Jonathan Ross after an argument, footage of which was widely seen across social media and provoked a national outcry.
Demonstrations against ICE’s presence in the Minnesota city continued on Wednesday evening, during which another man was shot by a federal immigration agent, suffering a leg wound.
Asked about the fatal shooting of Good, 51 percent of respondents said they considered it an inappropriate use of force by Ross and indicative of wider problems with how ICE conducts itself.
Another six percent said they considered it inappropriate but regarded the encounter as a one-off and of no wider significance.
Only 26 percent said they believed the agent had acted appropriately and, again, 18 percent said they did not know enough about the incident to offer an opinion.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the poll revealed a sharp divide in opinion between Democrats and Republicans, with the majority of left-leaning respondents opposing ICE’s actions and a majority of those on the right in favor.
The research also found that 47 percent of Americans were more concerned about the federal response to protests than they were the demonstrations themselves becoming unruly, a cause for alarm to just 37 percent of respondents.
Just 38 percent expressed satisfaction with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s job performance and only 37 percent said they felt great or moderate trust in the federal government under Trump.
Finally, CNN found that 52 percent of Americans now believe the president’s deportation push has gone too far, up from 45 percent in February 2025, following a year of controversial incidents such as ICE’s clashes with activists and the since-reversed removal of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a mega-prison in El Salvador.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey described the current situation as unsustainable, following Wednesday’s shooting.
“This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in and at the same time we are trying to find a way forward to keep people safe, to protect our neighbors, to maintain order,” he said.
The Department of Homeland Security says it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the state since early December and is vowing to not back down.
“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired a defensive shot to defend his life,” the DHS said in response the most recent incident.
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