There is growing political backlash against President Donald Trump’s expanded immigration enforcement campaign. Republicans are worried that the administration’s ICE tactics could cause the party to lose the support of swing voters and therefore be defeated in the 2026 midterm elections.
The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive-care nurse, has become a reference point in a nationwide debate over the administration’s deportation tactics.
A new POLITICO poll found 49% of Americans say Trump’s mass deportation campaign is “too aggressive,” including about one in five voters who supported him in 2024. Even among Trump voters, more than one in three said they support the goal of deportations but disapprove of how the administration is carrying it out.
“If we don’t change our approach, it will have a negative effect on the midterms, for sure,” Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) warned in comments cited by POLITICO. While there is more support for reducing illegal immigration across the southern border, the street clashes, mistaken arrests and aggressive, deadly raids are being opposed by an increasing number of Americans.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board urged Trump to pause ICE operations in the Twin Cities, calling the Minneapolis operation a “moral and political debacle” that is backfiring against Republicans. The board criticized administration officials for falsely portraying Pretti as a “domestic terrorist.” More Americans see immigration enforcement not as targeting criminals, but as punishing ordinary people.
But Trump doesn’t seem interested in pulling back. In a phone interview with The Wall Street Journal, he said the administration was “reviewing everything” about the shooting but avoided directly endorsing or condemning the officer’s actions. He also criticized Pretti for carrying to the protest a legally concealed firearm (which he never brandished or had in his hand).
In fact, Trump is raising the ante. He announced that he is sending border czar Tom Homan to Minnesota while continuing the fraud investigation occurring in that state. In a post a few hours later, Trump reported that was contacted by and had “a very good call” with Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, whom he claimed “was happy that Tom Homan was going to Minnesota.”
Administration officials and allies have largely taken a position of doubling down while attempting to shift the narrative, by emphasizing arrests of violent criminals and blaming Democratic leaders for refusing to cooperate and raising the temperature. Trump himself has argued ICE needs to better publicize the “murderers and drug dealers” it claims to be arresting, while senior officials have defended maintaining a heavy federal presence in Minnesota despite objections from state and local leaders.
But more and more GOP lawmakers and governors are questioning whether the images coming out of Minneapolis are erasing the gains Trump made in 2024 by turning immigration into a winning issue.
With public attention increasingly focused on the chaotic use of force rather than border security, Republicans are increasingly finding that an issue intended to galvanize their base is becoming a liability.
