A poll released Thursday found that public support for Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) and the Trump administration’s immigration policies eroded following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a federal agent in Minneapolis last month, with a majority of voters expressing skepticism about the administration’s account of the incident.
Roughly 6 in 10 voters in the new Quinnipiac University poll said they don’t think the administration has given an honest account of Pretti’s shooting, compared with 25 percent who think the administration has and 14 percent who did not give an opinion.
In the immediate aftermath of Pretti’s death, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem labeled him a “domestic terrorist,” and Border Patrol official Greg Bovino claimed he brandished a gun at agents in an attempt to do “maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” President Trump has called Pretti an “agitator, and perhaps, insurrectionist.”
The narrative has been disputed by video footage, which shows Pretti holding a cellphone in his hand before he is pepper-sprayed and pushed to the ground. In the ensuing scuffle, agents can be seen confiscating Pretti’s firearm, which he was legally permitted to carry, from his waistband moments before shots are fired.
More than three-quarters of surveyed voters said they had seen the video, and the poll highlighted a stark partisan divide over whether the shooting was justified. 94 percent of Democrats said they do not think it was justified, whereas 55 percent of Republicans said it was.
Eight in 10 voters said there should be an independent investigation into the shooting.
Though Noem has attempted to walk back her initial characterization of Pretti, saying she was using “the best information we had at the time,” the statements have drawn swift bipartisan backlash, including calls for Noem to resign, be fired or impeached.
The effort to hold Noem accountable is widely supported by voters, with the poll finding that just more than half, 58 percent, said she should be removed from her job, compared with 34 percent who think she should remain as head of the Department of Homeland Security.
Pretti’s shooting inflamed tensions in a city already on edge after the death of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was shot and killed in her SUV by an ICE officer just a block away weeks prior.
Fifty-nine percent of voters, including most Democrats and independents, said they thought the shootings were indicative of broader problems in ICE’s operations rather than isolated incidents.
Six in 10 voters said the Trump administration is being “too harsh” in its treatment of migrants without legal status, compared with a little less than one-third who said the administration is handling the situation about right, and 7 percent who said the administration was “too lenient” in its approach.
There is also overwhelming support for ICE reforms, according to the poll: 92 percent of voters said federal agents should be required to wear body cameras and 61 percent said agents should not be permitted to wear masks or face coverings.
Sixty percent of those polled, which occurred days before border czar Tom Homan announced that 700 immigration enforcement officials would be immediately leaving Minnesota, said ICE should withdraw from the state. Thirty-six percent, including 77 percent of Republicans, said operations should continue.
The poll was conducted from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2 among 1,191 self-identified registered U.S. voters. The margin of error is 3.6 percentage points.
