President Trump spoke in Des Moines, Iowa, earlier this week, sheepishly announcing that his administration is “going to de-escalate a little bit” in Minnesota following intense backlash in response to the second fatal shooting of a US citizen by federal immigration officers in the state. It has been only weeks since Renée Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother, was shot and killed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and the subsequent shooting of Alex Pretti has only intensified the public’s outrage even more.

Although ICE has been brought to the attention of the broader discourse, many Americans remain conflicted about the agency’s role and reputation. Overall, almost half of Americans (47%) do not approve of the agency entirely, while about 18% approve of ICE as an agency but don’t support how they are going about their job. On the other end of it, just about a quarter of people (23%) support ICE and their approach to deportations. These public opinions begin to show a push for more collective institutional accountability arising in US politics, rather than the stark polarizations we are unfortunately too used to.

Key Takeaways:

• College-Educated Men are the Most Supportive of ICE: A majority of college-educated men support ICE at some level, the only group in this breakdown how show this level of support. Their support divides closely between those who support the goals and tactics (28%) and those who support the goals but not the tactics (26%). Forty-three percent (43%) oppose ICE and its tactics. What is arguably more surprising is that non–college-educated men express higher opposition (46%) for ICE than their college-educated male counterparts. It is also worth noting that a majority of college-educated women oppose ICE goals and tactics, while 19% support both. Additionally, opposition to ICE at some level is the same for college and non-college women.
• Support for ICE in Rural vs. Suburban vs. Urban Areas: In suburban areas, more than half (52%) of Americans do not support what ICE is doing or how they are going about their job. Americans in urban areas have a slightly lower outright opposition to ICE, with 47% disapproving of both the goals and the approach. A majority of rural Americans disapprove of the approach ICE is taking (52%),which includes 36% who also disapprove of their goals, which is by far the lowest level of opposition towards ICE out of the population.
• Generational Differences in Attitudes Toward ICE are the same and different. Gen X is leading the opposition to ICE goals and tactics, although the differences by generation on the negative side are minimal. At the same time, Millennials show the highest overall disapproval of how ICE is currently operating (69%), followed by Gen Z, even though that frustration doesn’t always translate into support for eliminating the agency altogether. A majority of Boomers (50%) support ICE’s goals, including 33% who support the goals and tactics and 17% who just support the goals.