WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s Republicans are divided over whether federal immigration officers should try harder to avoid hurting people after a community activist was shot dead during an immigration raid and as violent arrests continued, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey.
While 95 per cent of Republicans continue to approve of Trump’s performance as president, the poll conducted on Monday and Tuesday suggests a significant slice of Trump’s backers are wary of his administration’s aggressive approach to immigration enforcement. The poll found American approval of Trump’s approach to immigration at its lowest point since he returned to office a year ago.
The poll concluded before a federal immigration agent shot and wounded a Venezuelan man on Wednesday night while trying to arrest him.
Poll respondents were asked to pick whether immigration officers should prioritise reducing harm to people even if this limits the number of arrests, or if they should be willing to use force even if there is a risk of serious injury or death.
Some 59 per cent of Republicans favoured a policy prioritising arrests even if people get hurt, while 39 per cent said officers should focus on reducing harm to people even if it means fewer arrests. Democrats were unified, with 96 per cent focused on avoiding injuries and 4 per cent saying immigration officers should focus on arrests. A handful of respondents did not answer the question.
Americans are following the matter closely. Trump’s campaign to deport unauthorised immigrants has become the signature issue of his administration. Masked immigration officers, often in tactical military-style gear, have become a common sight across the country.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll showed nine in 10 Americans have heard at least a little about the Jan 7 shooting death in Minneapolis of 37-year-old Renee Good, who was filmed criticising immigration officers from her car before an officer fatally shot her in what Trump administration officials have described as an act of self-defence.
“SOMEONE DIED IN AN ALTERCATION WITH ICE”
The Trump administration has called Good a “domestic terrorist” who tried to run an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer over with her vehicle. Local leaders and protesters across the country have condemned the shooting, saying the fact that Good turned her wheels away from the ICE officer as she drove past him proved her peaceful intentions.
Jason Cabel Roe, a Republican political strategist who has been critical of Trump, said Good’s killing put a human face on the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
“Someone died in an altercation with ICE. That is not what anyone wants to see happening.”