Views of ICE: 56% Unfavorable in New Pew Survey

A Pew Research Center survey taken Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 finds 56% of U.S. adults now view ICE unfavorably, up from 49% a year ago, the worst rating of the 12 federal agencies Pew tested.

Public views of ICE have turned more negative over the past year, according to a Pew Research Center survey released Oct. 26 that ranks Immigration and Customs Enforcement last among 12 federal agencies and departments. Fifty-six percent of adults rate ICE unfavorably and 35% favorably, compared with 49% and 40% in Pew’s 2025 survey. The poll of 5,062 adults was in the field from Sept. 28 to Oct. 4, a month before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

The finding matters because ICE is the agency carrying out the administration’s deportation campaign, and its standing with the public is the backdrop for the budget, oversight and detention fights that will follow the election. It also measures something removal counts do not: how the agency is seen by the communities where arrests, disputed detentions and deaths in custody are happening.

ICE trails its own parent department

ICE’s net rating, favorable minus unfavorable, fell from minus 9 in 2025 to minus 21, a calculation from Pew’s figures. That puts it 22 points behind the Department of Homeland Security, which houses it and is split almost evenly. Even the IRS scores better.

Agency	Favorable	Unfavorable	Net
FBI	48%	36%	+12
State Department	42%	33%	+9
Homeland Security	43%	42%	+1
Justice Department	40%	45%	-5
IRS	37%	46%	-9
ICE	35%	56%	-21

Source: Pew Research Center, survey of 5,062 U.S. adults, Sept. 28 to Oct. 4, 2026. Selected agencies; net is favorable minus unfavorable.

DHS itself has slipped steadily in Pew’s online surveys, from 51% favorable and 35% unfavorable in 2023 to 43% and 42% this year. Its partisan profile flipped in 2025, when Republicans warmed to the department and Democrats soured on it.

Both parties moved, and race mattered more

The partisan gap is enormous, but the drift ran in the same direction on both sides. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 67% view ICE favorably, down from 72%. Among Democrats and leaners, favorable views fell from 13% to 9%, and 84% are now unfavorable.

The sharpest movement came among nonwhite adults. Unfavorable views rose 18 points among Black adults, to 69%, and 13 points among Hispanic adults, to 67%. Asian adults moved from 57% to 66% unfavorable, while white adults moved only from 45% to 49%.

The Republican split to watch. Hispanic Republicans still lean favorable toward ICE, 53% to 39%, but that is well short of the 71% favorable rating among white Republicans. The pattern matches earlier Pew work: in October 2025, 47% of Hispanic Republicans said the administration was doing “too much” to deport immigrants living in the country illegally, up from 28% that March. Among all adults, the “too much” share rose from 44% to 53% over the same period.

What a favorability number can and cannot predict

Favorability is a reading of mood, not a vote on any specific policy, and this Pew release did not ask about deportation goals, detention or particular tactics. The data cut both ways. Two-thirds of Republicans still see ICE favorably, a sturdy base for an administration whose own yardsticks are removals and border arrests. The erosion among Black, Hispanic and Asian adults, and among Hispanic Republicans in particular, is the part that could change political math.

The practical effect is likely to be indirect. Much of ICE’s recent expansion rests on multiyear money in the 2025 reconciliation law, so a drop in public regard does not shrink the agency on its own. Where opinion is more likely to bite is in congressional oversight and appropriations after Nov. 3, and in local decisions about cooperating with ICE. Those decisions are still running both ways: Galveston County, Texas, commissioners approved more than $2.4 million in DHS payments tied to the county’s 287(g) agreements this week, on a consent agenda with no discussion, The Galveston County Daily News reported.

Those local fights are also where the economic costs of enforcement and the agency’s detention expansion are being argued, and where the next set of numbers, on deportations and arrests, will be judged against this backdrop.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice.

Sources

Vasanth Vaidyanathan, Esq.

Administrator

Vasanth Vaidyanathan is an immigration attorney with over 20 years of experience focused exclusively on U.S. immigration and nationality law. He holds a LL.M. from California Western School of Law, San Deigo and advises individuals and businesses on employment and family-based immigration matters, including H-1B, PERM, EB categories, and adjustment of status. He has also been a featured speaker at immigration seminars across the U.S. To reach Vasanth visit: https://www.vnathan.com/

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