A new Pew survey finds ICE is the least favorably viewed of 12 federal agencies, and opinion of it has turned more negative across both parties and every major racial and ethnic group over the past year.
More than half of Americans now hold an unfavorable view of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency carrying out much of the Trump administration’s expanded deportation effort. In a Pew Research Center survey published October 26, 56% of U.S. adults said they view ICE unfavorably, while 35% view it favorably and 9% are not sure. A year ago, 49% viewed the agency unfavorably and 40% favorably. Of the 12 federal agencies and departments Pew asked about, ICE now ranks last. The survey of 5,062 adults was conducted from September 28 to October 4.
The agency’s work has rarely been more visible. Over the past few months, SSC has followed where deportation efforts are leading: flights to Haiti after Temporary Protected Status for an estimated 330,000 Haitians ended, and agreements sending people to Jamaica and African countries many deportees have never called home. Pew’s survey measured how people feel about the agency, not about specific policies, so it can’t say which part of ICE’s work is driving the shift. What it does show is that the shift isn’t coming from one side alone.
Republicans still view ICE far more positively than Democrats, but both groups have moved in the same direction. Two-thirds of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (67%) view the agency favorably, down from 72% last year. Among Democrats and Democratic leaners, 84% now view ICE unfavorably, up from 78%. The partisan gap remains wide, but the agency has lost ground on both sides of it.
The sharpest change came among Black Americans. Sixty-nine percent of Black adults now view ICE unfavorably, up from 51% a year ago, an 18-point jump. Only 15% view it favorably, down from 26%. Negative views also climbed among Hispanic adults, from 54% to 67%, and among Asian adults, from 57% to 66%. (Pew’s figures for Asian adults reflect English speakers only.) White adults remain the least negative, but they have flipped. A year ago, slightly more viewed ICE favorably than unfavorably, 48% to 45%. Now 49% view it unfavorably and 42% favorably.
Some of the most telling numbers come from inside the Republican coalition. Seventy-one percent of White Republicans view ICE favorably, compared with 53% of Hispanic Republicans. Nearly four in 10 Hispanic Republicans (39%) view the agency unfavorably, about double the share of White Republicans (20%). Pew notes that its sample of Hispanic Republicans is relatively small, with a margin of error of plus or minus 10.1 percentage points, so the exact figures should be read with some caution. Among Democrats, large majorities across racial groups view ICE negatively, led by White Democrats at 89%, followed by Asian (82%), Hispanic (79%) and Black Democrats (75%).
That gap within the GOP points in the same direction as other recent findings. Earlier this month, Pew found that Donald Trump’s approval among Latino registered voters had fallen to 24%, from 38% at the start of his second term, and from 93% to 57% among Latinos who voted for him in 2024. Those voters haven’t become Democrats en masse. But a group Republicans worked hard to win is now less united behind one of the administration’s signature priorities than the rest of the party.
With the midterms a week away, immigration enforcement is one of the clearest tests of what voters think of Washington’s direction. An agency doesn’t need public approval to keep doing its job. But the one charged with carrying out one of the administration’s central promises is now the least favorably viewed in the federal government, and its standing is slipping among the people who voted for that promise as well as those who opposed it.