Trump’s immigration approval sinks as fatal ICE shootings fuel backlash

US President Donald Trump’s approval rating on immigration has fallen to a record low, as public anger grows over two fatal shootings linked to his administration’s immigration crackdown, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The survey, released on Monday, found that just 39 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, down from 41 percent earlier this month. The poll was conducted between Friday and Sunday, amid mounting outrage over the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was shot dead by a US border agent over the weekend, becoming the second person killed by a federal agent in the city in less than a month. On January 7, Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

The deaths have intensified scrutiny of the administration’s aggressive enforcement tactics and appear to be reshaping public opinion. In the Reuters/Ipsos poll, 58 percent of respondents said ICE agents had gone “too far” in their crackdown on unauthorised migration. Just 26 percent said the actions were “about right”, while 12 percent said they did not go far enough.

Facing rising criticism, Trump said on Monday that he would dispatch his border tsar, Tom Homan, to Minneapolis. He also sought to strike a conciliatory tone with Minnesota’s Democratic governor, Tim Walz, describing a recent phone call between them as “a very good” conversation.

The latest polling aligns with earlier surveys conducted before Pretti’s death. A New York Times/Siena College poll released on Friday found that 61 percent of respondents believed ICE’s tactics had gone too far, compared with 26 percent who said they were “about right” and 11 percent who said they were insufficient.

A Wall Street Journal poll published on January 16 showed similar results, with 58 percent of respondents saying the Trump administration’s deportation efforts had gone too far, outweighing those who felt the measures were appropriate or too limited.