Majorities of Americans want fewer ICE agents in Minneapolis, say immigration agents weren't justified in the amount of force used in the killing of Alex Pretti, and want criminal charges for the agents who shot Pretti, new YouGov polling on immigration enforcement finds.
Americans are far more likely to blame most of the violence occurring at protests in Minneapolis on ICE and other federal agents than they are to blame protesters (44% vs. 29%); 19% say both are equally responsible for the violence.
Few Americans (18%) want ICE to send more agents to Minneapolis. A majority want ICE to either reduce the number of agents it has in Minneapolis (17%) or remove all its agents (38%).
YouGov asked Americans whether they would approve of federal immigration agents doing each of 10 possible activities in their work, and whether they would approve of protesters doing each of a different set of 10 possible activities.
Majorities of Americans strongly or somewhat disapprove of all 10 possible immigration agent activities, from the most popular — detaining U.S. citizens who they say are interfering with immigration enforcement, at 40% approve and 53% disapprove — to the least popular, of entering private homes without a judicial warrant (12% vs. 80%).
Majorities support protesters taking part in peaceful protest marches (82% vs. 11%) and filming immigration agents as they detain people (67% vs. 24%), but oppose other possible protest activities such as yelling at immigration agents (38% vs. 53%), making noise outside of hotels where immigration agents are staying (35% vs. 58%), and throwing snowballs at immigration agents' vehicles (22% vs. 70%).
Alex Pretti's death
By 55% to 18%, Americans say that federal immigration agents were not justified in the amount of force they used in shooting Pretti. Majorities of Democrats (89%) and Independents (57%) say the shooting was not justified. Republicans are nearly twice as likely to say it was justified as not justified (41% vs. 21%). People who have seen video of the shooting are more likely than those who haven't to have an opinion on whether the shooting was justified, and by 66% to 21%, view it as not justified. Nearly half of people who haven't seen video of the incident don't have an opinion; 38% view it as not justified and 16% view it as justified.
Majorities of Americans think that the identities of the federal immigration agents who shot Pretti should be made public (53%), that the agents should be investigated (78%), and that they should face criminal charges (54%).
YouGov asked Americans a number of factual questions about Pretti's killing. Majorities say Pretti did not fire a handgun in the encounter (56% vs. 4%) and that Pretti was a U.S. citizen (64% vs. 3%) who was legally carrying a concealed handgun (57% vs. 11%). About half say that Pretti didn't point a gun at immigration agents and few say he did (51% vs. 6%); by the same margin Americans say Pretti didn't attempt to shoot the agents (51% vs. 6%).
Americans were more likely than not to say that Pretti was not a professional paid protester (42% vs. 11%), that he did not threaten any immigration agents (45% vs. 14%), that he had a handgun when he encountered immigration agents (48% vs. 16%), and that agents confiscated the gun before they shot him (38% vs. 14%). Americans are closely divided over whether Pretti obeyed orders given to him by immigration agents (21% say yes and 31% say no).
For most of these questions, at least 40% of Americans are unsure what happened.
Immigration policy
About half (51%) of Americans say they support the goals of Trump's immigration policy, but only 27% say they support both Trump's goals and the way he's implementing it. 24% say they support the goals of Trump's policy but not the way he's implementing it. 41% oppose both Trump's goals and how he's implementing his policy.
Almost all Americans say illegal immigrants who have committed violent crimes should be deported (87% say they should be deported and 5% say they shouldn't be). Americans are more likely than not to say illegal immigrants who have committed non-violent crimes should be deported (45% vs. 34%). 35% say illegal immigrants who recently came to the U.S. and have not committed any crimes here should be deported, and 45% say this group should not be deported.
Majorities of Americans say the following groups of illegal immigrants should not be deported: those who have lived in the U.S. for many years without committing any crimes (22% say they should be deported and 65% say they shouldn't be), those who have young children who are U.S. citizens (21% vs. 59%), those who came to the U.S. as children (17% vs. 66%), and those who are married to a U.S. citizen (11% vs. 72%).
Republicans are more likely than not to support deporting five of those seven groups. The exceptions are illegal immigrants who are married to a U.S. citizen and those who came to the U.S. as children. The only group of the seven that Democrats are more likely than not to support deporting are those who have committed violent crimes.
Most Americans strongly or somewhat support requiring ICE agents to wear body cameras (90% support and 5% oppose), investigating all allegations of ICE agent misconduct (83% vs. 10%), requiring ICE agents to undergo de-escalation training (83% vs. 8%), having an independent agency investigate allegations of ICE misconduct (77% vs. 13%), requiring a longer training period for ICE agents (76% vs. 13%), creating stricter recruiting requirements for ICE agents (75% vs. 9%), and criminally prosecuting any ICE agent who kills someone (64% vs. 23%).
Americans are more divided about cutting or eliminating ICE. 49% support reducing ICE's size and funding, while 41% oppose this. Similar shares of Americans support and oppose not allowing ICE officers to carry guns (44% vs. 46%) and cutting ICE agents' pay (40% vs. 43%).
Eliminating ICE as a federal agency has 40% support and 48% opposition, but only 32% want to keep ICE in its current form (55% don't) and only 31% want to expand it (56% don't).
— Carl Bialik contributed to this article
Related:
- Confidence in ICE is falling and half of Americans support cutting its funding
- Today more Americans support than oppose abolishing ICE
- How Americans feel about 10 recent Department of Homeland Security social media posts
- How watching video of the Minneapolis ICE shooting affects Americans' polarized views
- After the shooting in Minneapolis, majorities of Americans view ICE unfavorably and support major changes to the agency
- More Americans view the ICE shooting in Minnesota as unjustified than say it is justified
Methodology: The January 26 - 28, 2026 poll was conducted among 1,124 U.S. adult citizens. Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of U.S. adult citizens. A random sample (stratified by gender, age, race, education, geographic region, and voter registration) was selected from the 2019 American Community Survey. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, U.S. region, 2024 presidential vote, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification, and current voter registration status. 2024 presidential vote, at time of weighting, was estimated to be 48% Harris and 50% Trump. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. 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, 33% Republican). The margin of error for the overall sample is approximately 4%.
Image: Getty (Stephen Maturen)
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