Some voters who backed Trump say ICE is going ‘too far’

Some swing voters who supported President Trump in the 2024 election say Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are going “too far” in carrying out deportation orders after an officer shot and killed Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis earlier this month.

On Tuesday, NPR observed online focus groups with 14 voters from Pennsylvania who supported Joe Biden in 2020 and then swung to Trump in 2024. Seven of those voters identified themselves as Republicans, six identified as independents, and one identified as a Democrat.

The focus groups were part of the Swing Voter Project, conducted by the companies Engagious and Sago. NPR is a partner on the project.

While focus groups don’t provide a statistically significant sample like a poll does, they can provide insight into how some key voters view news events.

In this case, eight voters said ICE is generally “getting things about right,” while six said it has “gone too far.” No one thought it has “not gone far enough.”

Rich Tau, president of Engagious and the moderator of the focus groups, said he observed “a lot of frustration with ICE and how ICE has been performing around the United States” with these Pennsylvania voters.

“There was widespread awareness of what happened to Renee Good on Jan. 7,” he said. “You have a big division in these groups. It shows that there’s an underlying frustration with how things are going and how things are being executed in the United States.”

Divided blame for fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis

Most voters had seen video of the shooting. Hassan C., a 39-year-old independent, said the agent who shot and killed Macklin Good was clearly to blame. (Participants agreed to be part of the focus groups on condition that they be identified by their first names and last initials only.)

“From what I saw in the video, she was trying to drive away and the ICE agent moved out of the way,” he said. “He was no longer in harm’s way. And when he started shooting her, he was no longer in the path of the vehicle.”

There were mixed opinions on who was more to blame for the incident, though. When asked, four voters blamed Good, five blamed the ICE agent, and another four said both were equally to blame.

Grace P., a 60-year-old Republican, was among the voters who felt both individuals were equally to blame. While she said that Macklin Good “was putting herself in danger by even being there,” she also felt the officer went too far.

“These officers should be trained that you should never be shooting to kill,” she said. “There’s something wrong with that scenario right there.”

Kimberly K., a 46-year-old independent voter in Philadelphia, was one of the six voters who said ICE is generally “getting things about right” across the country. She said she has a “soft spot” for law enforcement officials because her husband worked in law enforcement for 33 years.

“I know that’s a job that not everybody can do,” she said. “So I just feel like a job needs to be done and they’re doing it and there are other variables that make it very difficult.”

Just two voters said Trump had any blame in the shooting, despite sending federal agents to Minnesota.

Voters want a clearer focus on the U.S. economy

A majority of the voters did, however, say that Trump needs to start focusing more on economic issues and less on foreign affairs.

In the last few weeks, the U.S. military seized Venezuela’s leader and Trump has renewed his threats to acquire Greenland. When asked, all 14 voters said they were opposed to any use of force to acquire the territory. Trump on Wednesday backed off those threats and said a “framework” for a deal on Greenland had been reached with European leaders.

“There’s a concern that he’s trying to do too much on too many things and he’s not singularly focused on the thing that matters to most of [voters], which is their pocketbooks,” Thau said. “Their frustration here is with the international activities — Greenland, Venezuela, Iran, Ukraine, Gaza, go down the list.”

Matt A., a 31-year-old Republican, said Trump’s lack of focus on economic issues has created more anxiety for him.

“The everyday, middle-class working person sometimes gets forgotten in some of Trump’s policies,” he said.

Jeremy F., a 39-year-old independent voter, said he “definitely” doesn’t think that Trump “cares about everyday people.”

“I mean, the way he lived his entire life well before he ever became president, he just only cared about money, prestige and himself,” he said. “It’s all about him. It’s him, you know? So, yeah, he’s not worried about us.”

Jeremy said Trump’s focus on Venezuela and Greenland only frustrates him more because he said he voted for Trump in 2024 because “it seemed that he was less of a war hawk.”

“He ran on that,” he said. “He ran very strongly opposing war and opposing military conflicts around the world. And now he’s just going left and right and starting them.”

Overall, eight of the 14 voters said they disapprove of Trump’s job performance. But most of the group was also critical of Democrats, using words like “weak” and “broken.”