The Trump administration has significantly increased funding and hiring for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). On its website, the agency has touted "record-breaking immigration enforcement in the US interior" since the start of the Trump administration. However, this increase in activity has coincided with many of ICE's actions being deemed unlawful by judges. Most notably, ICE deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador — a country he had fled due to gang violence — as a result of an "administrative error." YouGov polling in April found that a majority of Americans thought Abrego Garcia should be returned to the U.S. from El Salvador. ICE's tactics have met with resistance, sparking protests across the country. What do Americans think about ICE's actions across the country?
Last month, YouGov polling found that a majority of Americans disapprove of how ICE is handling its job. About half of Americans say that ICE's tactics are too forceful and are concerned that someone they know could be mistreated by ICE. One half or more of Americans think that ICE wrongfully arrests, deports, and uses unnecessary force against both U.S. citizens and immigrants. Americans are more likely to approve than to disapprove of protests against ICE.
A majority of Americans disapprove of ICE
A majority (53%) of Americans somewhat or strongly disapprove of how ICE is handling its job. Only 39% approve. Both Democrats and Independents are much more likely to disapprove than to approve of ICE (85% vs. 12% among Democrats and 62% vs. 25% among Independents). In contrast, Republicans overwhelmingly approve of the agency's job handling: 79% approve and 13% disapprove.
The high rate of disapproval of ICE may stem in part from concerns about the agency's tactics. Half (52%) of Americans say that ICE's tactics are too forceful. Only 26% say that its tactics are about right and 11% say that they are not forceful enough.
Majorities of both Democrats (86%) and Independents (60%) say that ICE's tactics are too forceful. But only 12% of Republicans think ICE is too forceful; 52% say ICE's tactics are about right. Those who think ICE's tactics are not forceful enough are in the minority in all three groups: 1% of Democrats, 8% of Independents, and 24% of Republicans.
Americans are not simply concerned about ICE's tactics in the abstract: Nearly half (46%) of Americans are somewhat or very concerned that someone they know could be mistreated by ICE. That's roughly the same as the share who are not very or not at all concerned (47%).
Three-quarters (75%) of Democrats are concerned that someone they know could be mistreated by ICE. Half (50%) of Independents are concerned as well, more than the 39% who are not very or not at all concerned. Only 16% of Republicans are concerned ICE could mistreat someone they know; most (78%) are not very or not at all concerned.
Most Hispanic (72%) and Black (65%) Americans are concerned that someone they know could be mistreated by ICE. Concern among white Americans is less widespread (38%, vs. 57% who are not very or not at all concerned).
About half of Americans support protests against ICE
Americans are more likely to somewhat or strongly approve than disapprove of protests against ICE actions (48% vs. 39%). Majorities of Democrats (76%) and Independents (55%) approve of protests against ICE actions, with small shares disapproving (12% of Democrats and 28% of Independents). Most Republicans disapprove of anti-ICE protests (76%, compared to 13% who approve).
Majorities think that ICE mistreats citizens and immigrants
Majorities of Americans say that ICE sometimes or often arrests U.S. citizens (55%) and immigrants who are authorized to live in the U.S. (61%) who have not committed any immigration or customs violations. Far smaller shares of Americans think that ICE rarely or never wrongfully arrests U.S. citizens (31%) and authorized immigrants (29%).
Large majorities of Democrats think ICE sometimes or often wrongfully arrests U.S. citizens (84%) and authorized immigrants (86%). Majorities of Independents say the same (58% about citizens and 68% about immigrants) but only small shares of Republicans do (24% and 29%). Majorities of Republicans think ICE rarely or never wrongfully arrests U.S. citizens (61%) or authorized immigrants (60%).
Americans are only slightly less likely to say ICE wrongfully deports people. About half (51%) of Americans say ICE sometimes or often deports U.S. citizens who have not committed any immigration or customs violations, and a majority (56%) say the same about authorized immigrants.
Large majorities of Democrats say that ICE sometimes or often wrongfully deports U.S. citizens (78%) and authorized immigrants (87%). Majorities of Independents also say U.S. citizens (53%) and authorized immigrants (61%) are sometimes or often wrongfully deported but only small shares of Republicans do (23% and 22%). About two-thirds of Republicans say that U.S. citizens (64%) are rarely or never wrongfully deported and a similar proportion (67%) say the same about authorized immigrants.
Majorities of Americans say that ICE sometimes or often uses unnecessary physical force in its interactions with U.S. citizens (59%), authorized immigrants (60%), and immigrants who are not authorized to live in the U.S. (64%). For each of these three groups, less than one-third of Americans say ICE rarely or never uses unnecessary force (30% against citizens, 29% against authorized immigrants, and 27% against unauthorized immigrants).
Most Democrats and Independents think that ICE uses unnecessary physical force. For each of the three groups — citizens, authorized immigrants, and unauthorized immigrants — about 90% of Democrats, about two-thirds of Independents, and between about one-quarter and one-third of Republicans say ICE uses unnecessary force. Republicans are more likely to say that ICE rarely or never uses unnecessary force: 62% say unnecessary force is rarely used against citizens, 60% against authorized immigrants, and 56% against unauthorized immigrants.
About the same shares of Americans think ICE uses unnecessary physical force against U.S. citizens, authorized immigrants, and unauthorized immigrants at various frequencies. Americans are slightly more likely to say ICE uses unnecessary force against unauthorized immigrants and a bit less likely to say it uses unnecessary force against citizens. However, these differences are very small, rendering them statistically insignificant.
Between 40% and 42% of Americans say ICE often uses unnecessary physical force against citizens, authorized immigrants, and unauthorized immigrants. This narrow range (2 percentage points) is within the survey's margin of error. There are similarly narrow ranges in the shares saying ICE sometimes (19% to 22%), rarely (17% to 19%) and never (10% to 11%) uses unnecessary force against each of the three groups.
Americans are less likely to approve of ICE after being asked about ICE's treatment of U.S. citizens
To avoid biasing respondents, we randomized the order in which panelists were asked questions about the treatment of different groups. Some panelists were randomly assigned to first answer questions about ICE's treatment of U.S. citizens, then about their general evaluations of ICE, then about authorized immigrants. Others were first asked about ICE's treatment of authorized immigrants, then their evaluations of ICE, then about U.S. citizens. (All panelists were asked the single question about the treatment of unauthorized immigrants last.)
This methodology was intended to reduce any bias that may come from having just been prompted to think about either citizens or immigrants. It also served as an experiment that allows us to understand how being asked first about ICE's treatment of citizens or of immigrants affects overall evaluations of ICE.
We find that being shown questions about ICE's treatment of citizens makes Americans more likely to disapprove of the agency, compared to questions about treatment of authorized immigrants. Americans who were asked about their evaluation of ICE after questions about ICE's treatment of U.S. citizens were 7 percentage points more likely to disapprove of ICE than those who had just seen questions about ICE's treatment of authorized immigrants (56% vs. 49%) and 5 percentage points less likely to approve (36% vs. 41%). This effect goes in the same direction among Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. In all three groups, respondents who were first asked about ICE's treatment of citizens were between 5 and 7 percentage points more likely to disapprove of ICE than those who were first asked about authorized immigrants.
Americans are more likely to disapprove than to approve of ICE regardless of whether its treatment of citizens or immigrants is fresh in their minds. However, seeing questions about ICE's treatment of citizens significantly worsens evaluations of the agency. Note that, unlike in some experiments, this survey did not introduce any new information to respondents. We only asked them to share their own opinions in a different order. This suggests that high-profile instances of ICE detaining, arresting, injuring, or shooting U.S. citizens could be particularly damaging to the agency's reputation, as making ICE's treatment of citizens more salient to Americans appears to make them more likely to disapprove of ICE.
— Taylor Orth and Carl Bialik contributed to this article
See the results for this YouGov survey
Related articles and surveys:
- What do Americans think about immigrants? It depends on how you ask
- Americans are far more likely to say immigration detention centers should provide clean drinking water than to say they do
- What do Americans believe about Kilmar Abrego Garcia?
- A quarter of Millennials would shut down Immigration and Customs Enforcement
- The shutdown, Donald Trump approval, ICE, the economy, the DOJ, and conversion therapy: October 10 - 13, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
- Record-high Trump disapproval, Texas flooding, Alligator Alcatraz, Jeffrey Epstein, and JD Vance: July 11 - 14, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
- Trump approval falls, Israel-Iran conflict, anti-ICE protests, and vaccines: June 13-16, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
- Trump vs. Musk, the biggest issues, ICE and deportations, the budget, and Supreme Court cases: June 6-9, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll
Methodology: This YouGov poll was conducted online on October 8 - 12, 2025 among 1,065 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of adult U.S. citizens. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, region, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given around November 8, 2024, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (31% Democratic, 32% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4 points.
Image: Getty
What do you really think about President Trump, American politics in general, and everything else? Share your reality, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.
