Most Americans see an immigration officer’s fatal shooting of Minneapolis resident Renee Good as an inappropriate use of force, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds. Roughly half view it as a sign of broader issues with the way US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is operating, with less than one-third saying that ICE operations have made cities safer.
Just 26% of Americans say that they view the shooting as an appropriate use of force. The majority, 56%, call it an inappropriate use of force, with 51% saying that it also reflects bigger problems with the way that ICE is operating. A single-digit share called it an isolated incident while the rest say they haven’t heard enough about it to weigh in.
Americans say, 51% to 31%, that ICE enforcement actions are making cities less safe rather than safer; another 18% say there’s been little effect either way.
The videos of ICE agent Jonathan Ross shooting Good have elicited sharply different responses from elected Democrats and Republicans, a divide that is reflected in CNN’s polling of the public. But Democrats are more fully united in their concerns about ICE operations than Republicans are in their willingness to defend the agency.
More than 8 in 10 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents call the shooting an inappropriate use of force that reflects larger problems, with a similar share saying that ICE enforcement actions have made cities less safe.
A smaller 67% majority of Republican-aligned adults say that ICE enforcement actions have overall made cities safer, and 56% call the shooting appropriate, with the remainder split between condemning it and declining to weigh in either way.
The subset of independents who don’t lean toward either party also express opposition to ICE’s actions, with more than half saying that ICE enforcement is making cities less safe, and that the shooting is a sign of bigger issues with the way it operates.
Overall, just over half of Americans view Trump’s deportation policies as overreaching. By a 10-point margin, 47% to 37%, Americans say they’re more concerned about crackdowns against those protesting deportations than they are about the protests themselves getting out of hand.
Only 37% of the public expresses a great deal or moderate trust in the federal government to carry out a fair and thorough investigation of the shooting, and just 38% approve of Kristi Noem’s work as secretary of homeland security.
Within the GOP, those who consider themselves members of the “Make America Great Again” movement are 32 points likelier than those who don’t to support the ICE agent’s actions. And while Republican-aligned adults who live in urban areas mostly see ICE enforcement as making cities safer, they’re less likely to say so than their partisan counterparts in suburban or rural areas.
Overall, 59% of Americans who live in cities, a Democratic-leaning group, feel that ICE enforcement is making cities less safe.
Trump made immigration a focal point of his 2024 campaign, vowing to stage the largest deportation operation in American history and attacking former President Joe Biden’s handling of the US-Mexico border.
As Trump has implemented the crackdown he promised, there’s been a lasting shift in public opinion against his handling of immigration.
In February, just 45% of Americans said that Trump’s efforts to deport undocumented immigrants had gone too far. By April, amid a spate of high-profile deportations – including the since-reversed deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a Salvadoran prison – that number had risen above the 50% mark, where it has since remained in CNN’s polling.
In the latest survey, 52% say Trump’s deportation efforts have gone too far. That includes strong majorities of both Democratic-aligned adults and true independents, while about one-third of Republican-aligned adults say that he hasn’t gone far enough.
Trump’s approval rating on immigration has followed a similar pattern, declining in the first months of his second term. Last March, 51% approved of his handling of the issue, higher than at any point during his first term. By July 2025, that number had sunk to 42%.
In the immediate wake of the Minnesota shooting, his approval rating has remained stable at that lower level, CNN’s latest poll finds, although it remains above the lowest ratings he saw for the issue during his first term.
