New polls show that a vast majority of Republicans still support President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement, which led to the killing of two protesters in Minneapolis last month.

But the polls, one by the public affairs firm Ipsos, another from Pew Research Center, also reveal that a small, but growing, share of Republicans now say that the Trump administration’s enforcement tactics have gone too far. And independent voters, who helped swing the 2024 election to Trump, also say that enforcement has gotten out of hand.

Immigration was key to Trump’s victory in November 2024 and has been a top issue driving Republican voters.

But after federal agents killed two Minneapolis protesters, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, Trump said that he may “de-escalate a little bit,” and then removed Gregory Bovino, the hard-line senior Border Patrol official, from the city.

The Ipsos poll, released Monday, was conducted entirely after Pretti was shot.

62% Say ICE Officers Gone Too Far

It found that 62% of Americans said they thought Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had gone too far in dealing with illegal immigration in the country, a modest increase over the 58% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted just before the shooting.

Much of that movement came from Republicans. Most Republicans still said they thought enforcement was about right (45%) or had not gone far enough (22%). But 30% of Republicans now say that immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far, up from 20% just before the shooting.

Other surveys taken around the same time, including the Pew survey, also reveal a modest shift among Republicans. A Fox News survey that was in the field when Pretti was shot revealed a further divide within the party. In the poll, nearly half of Republicans who describe themselves as “non-MAGA Republicans” say they think ICE has been too aggressive in its deportation efforts.

James Wright, 39, an electrical lineman in Columbus, Ohio, said he voted for Trump in the last election. He said that immigration was the key issue in deciding his vote and that he still strongly supported Trump’s approach to immigration.

“The good outweighs the bad, but those two deaths were completely preventable,” Wright said. “I hope no more of that happens.”

The Ipsos poll suggests that Republican voters viewed the shootings of Good and Pretti through slightly different lenses, which could help explain some of the party’s shift. Asked about the shooting of Good, more than half of Republicans said it was a necessary use of force. Asked about Pretti, just 33% said it was a necessary use of force. A large share, 43%, said they were not sure.

Tyson Miller, 33, who works in food delivery in Charlotte, North Carolina, said he considered himself an “old guard Republican” and wrote in Nikki Haley on his 2024 presidential ballot.

“I agreed with the idea of deporting violent criminals,” he said. But “you hear of people being whisked away to another country where they are not even from,” he added. “And then you hear about citizens who are whisked away to God knows where. That’s something I can’t get behind.”

Independents Care Most About the Economy

Trump’s victory in 2024 was also built on independent voters, a group in which he made significant gains between the 2020 and 2024 elections, according to data from Pew Research Center.

In numerous polls, independent voters have simultaneously supported mass deportations, while also saying that immigration enforcement has been too excessive.

But only a small share of independent voters rated immigration as their top issue, in a recent poll from The New York Times and Siena University. They care much more about the economy and the cost of living.

Alexander Cisneros, 41, an auto mechanic from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, who said he identified as an independent, agrees with Trump on increasing immigration enforcement, but believes he has gone too far in deporting people who are otherwise contributing to society.

Still, he said, the economy is his top issue.

“At the end of the day, the economy was horrible under Biden,” he said.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Ruth Igielnik/David Guttenfelder
c. 2026 The New York Times Company