A rally was held in Green Bay on Jan. 25, 2026 following the shooting of Preble graduate Alex Pretti. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) — A new Marquette Law School national survey found 40% of adults nationwide approve of the way U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, is handling its job, while 60% disapprove.
The poll was conducted after the shooting in Minneapolis of Renee Good, but with most interviews completed before the shooting of Alex Pretti on Jan. 24, 2026.
- Click here to see the survey’s full results
Also:
- 37% say shooting of Renee Good was justified, 62% say it was not justified
- General support for deportations remains steady, with 56% favoring deporting those in the U.S. illegally
- Overall approval of President Trump is at 42%, continuing a gradual decline
- Opinion of the state of the economy improves from November
The survey was conducted Jan. 21-28, 2026, interviewing 1,003 adults nationwide, with a margin of error of +/-3.4 percentage points. For registered voters, the sample size was 869, with a margin of error of +/-3.6. For likely voters, the sample size was 577, with a margin of error of +/-4.4 percentage points.
Opinion about deportations has hardly changed since November. In the current poll, 56% favored deporting “immigrants who are living in the United States illegally,” with 44% opposed. In November, 58% favored and 42% opposed such deportations.
Among those who favor deportations, about a third, 35%, disapprove of the way ICE is enforcing immigration, while 65% approve of ICE’s conduct. Those who oppose deportations are almost unanimously opposed to ICE, with 96% disapproving and 4% approving.
When asked about deportations of those who “have lived here for a number of years, have jobs and no criminal record,” support for deportations declines to 44%, with 56% opposed. This result is unchanged from November.
Those who favor deporting longtime residents without a criminal record are more approving of ICE’s conduct, with 78% approval against 22% disapproval. Of those opposed to deporting longtime residents without a criminal record, 89% disapprove of ICE, while 11% approve.
Fifty-two percent say the United States is mostly deporting immigrants who have no criminal record, while 47% say most deportations are of people with criminal records. Among Republicans, 83% say most deportees have criminal records, while 57% of independents and 86% of Democrats say most deportees have no criminal record.
Approval of President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration stands at 44%, with 56% who disapprove. In November, 45% approved and 55% disapproved of how Trump has handled immigration. Approval on this issue has declined from 50% in May, with net approval standing at -12 percentage points, as shown in Table 1. (All results in the tables are stated as percentages.)
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