Few support ICE arrests in schools, churches: Survey

Few adults questioned in a new survey support Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents carrying out arrests in schools and churches, despite half of the respondents saying that increasing security at the southern border should be a top priority for the Trump administration.

The Associated Press (AP)-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that just two in 10 U.S. adults, 18 percent, said they are “strongly or somewhat” in favor of arresting kids who are illegally in the country while they are at school. Another 17 percent said they are neither in favor nor opposed while the majority of respondents, 64 percent, said they are strongly or somewhat opposed to the potential enforcement.

Similarly, most Americans are not in favor of arresting people who are in the U.S. illegally while they are at church. Nearly six in 10, 57 percent, said they are “strongly or somewhat” opposed. Some 22 percent are not in favor nor opposed while 20 percent are “strongly or somewhat” in favor of the directive.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration formally authorized ICE agents to perform arrests of migrants at churches and schools, doing away with the guidelines that prevented detentions in “sensitive” areas.

While most in the new survey are opposed to arresting migrants at churches and schools, half of the respondents, 50 percent, said beefing up security at the border with Mexico should be a “high” priority. Nearly a third, 32 percent, argued it should be a “moderate” priority for the Trump administration while only 17 percent argued it should be a “low” priority, according to the survey.

Border security was one of the main issues Trump campaigned on during the 2024 presidential election.

The majority of Americans, 82 percent, supports deporting illegal immigrants who have been convicted of a violent crime, pollsters found. Just 6 percent said they “somewhat or strongly” oppose it, according to the poll.

The support for deporting legal immigrants who have been convicted of a violent crime is lower, getting 68 percent backing. Some 15 percent are neither in favor nor opposed while 16 percent stated they “somewhat or strongly” opposed the potential action.

Respondents are split on deporting all illegal immigrants who had not been convicted of a crime. Over four in 10, 44 percent, said they are “somewhat or strongly” opposed to it. Approximately 37 percent said they are “somewhat or strongly” in favor of mass deporting illegal immigrants who are not guilty of crimes. Nearly two in 10, 19 percent, are neither in favor nor opposed to it, according to the survey.

The poll was conducted from Jan. 9-13, 2025 among 1,147 adults. The margin of error was 3.9 percentage points.

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