Will Americans welcome ‘softer touch’ to immigration enforcement?

(TNND) — President Donald Trump has signaled a “softer touch” to his administration’s immigration enforcement efforts as 700 federal officers withdraw from Minnesota’s surge.

Tensions have flared in Minneapolis, and two protesters, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, were fatally shot in encounters with federal officers.

Polls show the American public thinks immigration officers’ tactics have gone too far.

And those concerns seem to be resonating with Trump, who told NBC News in a new interview that he’s learned from Minnesota that his crackdown could use “a little bit of a softer touch.”

“But you still have to be tough. … We’re dealing with really hard criminals,” Trump immediately added.

Todd Belt, the Political Management program director at George Washington University, said immigration has always been a winning issue for Trump.

But Belt said Trump is losing people in the middle of the political spectrum and even some Republicans who are concerned about roving patrols of mask-wearing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and the lack of judicial warrant arrests in American streets.

It looks heavy-handed, Belt said.

“It’s not what, it’s how,” Belt said.

GW polling has found that most Americans wanted tougher immigration policy, Belt said. But the tactics aren’t sitting well with the public.

A Quinnipiac University Poll this week found nearly two-thirds of people disapprove of the way ICE is enforcing immigration laws.

Over 60% don’t think the Trump administration has given an honest account of Pretti’s killing.

And just 38% of voters said they approved of Trump’s handling of immigration issues.

A new Marist Poll found 65% of Americans think the actions of ICE have gone too far in enforcing immigration laws.

Ernesto Sagás, an expert in politics and U.S. immigration policies who teaches at Colorado State University, said Trump is drawing down ICE presence in Minnesota because he feels he’s losing the public’s support for his “tough-as-nails” approach to immigration enforcement.

And the Pretti and Good shootings have turned into a massive public relations problem for the administration, Sagás said.

Sagás said the American people want immigration enforcement but will welcome a softer touch.

“I think that’s part of the frustration with American voters in the last almost 10 years, the last decade, that we have kind of gone from one extreme to the other, that we went from Biden’s lax attitude towards immigration and chaos at the border and those images of thousands of people crossing the Rio Grande, and then now these extreme policies of the Trump administration, which entire families, or children with their parents, are being snatched away and separating families,” Sagás said. “So, it for many people, it doesn’t feel like this is America, or this is not the America that we are used to.”

Belt said Trump might get a political win, particularly with moderates, if he actually gives in to some of the Democrats’ demands about reforming ICE, including the removal of face coverings and the required use of body cameras.

Protestors march during a “Nationwide Shutdown” demonstration against ICE enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026, in Minneapolis. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Trump told NBC News that he was unhappy that two American citizens were fatally shot while protesting.

But he also said neither Pretti nor Good was “an angel.”

And he reiterated his support for the immigration officers.

“I’m gonna always be with our great people of law enforcement,” Trump said. “ICE, police, we have to back them. If we don’t back them, we don’t have a country.”

ICE and the Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond as of Thursday afternoon to a request from The National News Desk for data on the number of arrests in both Minnesota and nationally.

But border czar Tom Homan said at a Wednesday news conference that 14 people with homicide convictions, 139 people with assault convictions, 87 people with sex offenses, and 28 gang members have been arrested in the Minnesota surge.

“We’re taking a lot of bad people off the street,” Homan said. “Everybody should be grateful for that.”

Homan also said 158 people have been arrested in the past month for assaulting, impeding or interfering with federal officers.

A Dec. 31 news release from ICE said DHS removed more than 622,000 illegal immigrants, including tens of thousands of “the worst of the worst criminal offenders” nationally last year.

And a Jan. 10 news release from ICE highlighted some of the “worst of the worst” arrested during the Minnesota surge.

Most of the featured arrestees have had final orders of removal for years.

They included:

• A man from Mexico convicted of sexual assault against a child, sexual assault-carnal abuse and four cases of driving under the influence.

• A man from Laos convicted of strong-arm sodomy of a boy, strong-arm sodomy of a girl, another aggravated sex offense, nine counts of larceny, unauthorized use of a vehicle, four counts of fraud, vehicle theft, two counts of drug possession, obstructing justice, possession of stolen property, receiving stolen property, burglary and check forgery.

• A man from Somalia who’s been convicted of homicide.

• A man from Sudan who’s been convicted of an attempt to commit homicide, weapon possession and DUI.

• A man from El Salvador who has been convicted of three counts of homicide.

• A man from Guatemala who has been convicted of negligent homicide with a vehicle and DUI.

• A woman from Sierra Leone who’s been convicted of two counts of homicide, four DUIs, three counts of larceny and burglary.

Elsewhere, Tennessee officials just released a report that found over 11,000 unlawfully present individuals were arrested last year in the state. Those people combined for over 21,000 charges, with the most common infractions being traffic violations, driving without a license and DUI.

The Tennessee arrests included 41 homicides.

ICE arrested 650 illegal immigrants during a two-week operation in West Virginia.

And ICE continues to share stories of specific arrests from across the country, such as a Tren de Aragua gang member in Dallas, a man accused of killing a teenager in a hit-and-run in North Carolina, and an alleged sexual predator in New York.