{"id":5853,"date":"2026-07-14T19:10:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T19:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5853"},"modified":"2026-07-14T19:10:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T19:10:38","slug":"killings-by-immigration-agents-were-a-big-problem-for-trump-and-now-theyre-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=5853","title":{"rendered":"Killings by immigration agents were a big problem for Trump \u2014 and now they\u2019re back"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Few if any events in President Donald Trump\u2019s second term have caused his administration to course correct as much as when federal agents killed two protesters against its immigration crackdown in Minneapolis in January.\n <\/p>

Read more Outbreak of diarrhea from parasite expands to more states as US cases soar beyond last year\u2019s level<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Two top officials overseeing that crackdown have since departed, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and the administration tacitly acknowledged that things had gotten out of hand. Polling backed up just how bad the killings were for the administration.\n <\/p>\n

\n But things are risking getting out of hand for the administration on this issue again \u2014 and at a pretty troubling time, politically.\n <\/p>\n

\n After months of relative quiet when it came to major deportation controversies, federal agents have killed two people this month \u2014 one in Texas last week, then another in Maine on Monday.\n <\/p>\n

\n As with the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the episodes appear primed to test not just Americans\u2019 tolerance for Trump\u2019s immigration agenda, but also the administration\u2019s credibility. The Department of Homeland Security has routinely made dubious and even flatly false claims about such incidents, and questions about its accounts are popping up again.\n <\/p>\n

\n Notably, in the most recent shooting death in Maine, DHS doesn\u2019t even claim the man who was killed was threatening the lives of the officers \u2014 just that he was fleeing the scene and that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer was \u201cfearing for public safety.\u201d But that\u2019s generally not a reason to shoot someone.\n <\/p>\n

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\nA Kia sedan reportedly driven by the victim of a fatal shooting can be seen with four bullet holes in the windshield at the scene on Pool Street in Biddeford on Monday, July 13, 2026.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Gregory Rec\/Portland Press Herald\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nBlood is seen on the pavement at the scene of a shooting involving US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), on July 13, 2026 in Biddeford, Maine.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Ryan Murphy\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n So where does this issue stand politically?\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s pretty clear that Minneapolis\u2019 impact has lingered. That\u2019s because, despite Trump\u2019s demonstrated success in reducing illegal border crossings to historic lows, he remains substantially underwater on the issue of immigration.\n <\/p>\n

\n A last month showed Americans disapproved of Trump on immigration, 55%-37%. And they said immigration policy was on the \u201cwrong track\u201d rather than the right one by a 51%-35% margin. Those numbers were very similar to where they were in the aftermath of Good\u2019s and Pretti\u2019s killings in .\n <\/p>\n

\n showed Trump\u2019s immigration numbers improving modestly since February \u2014 going from 21 points negative on immigration to 13 points negative last month. But he was still significantly underwater.\n <\/p>\n

\n ICE, whose agents shot both people this month, also remained more unpopular than ever, even before these latest shootings in Texas and Maine.\n <\/p>\n

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\nPeople mourn during a vigil in San Antonio, Texas, on July 7, 2026.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Ronaldo Schemidt\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nPeople protest outside of a federal immigration office in Scarborough, Maine, on July 14, 2026, after a man was fatally shot by ICE.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Ryan Murphy\/Getty Images<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n A Marquette Law School poll in May showed Americans had an unfavorable view of ICE by a wide margin, 61%-36%.\n <\/p>\n

\n That roughly 6 in 10 who disapproved of ICE was similar to what other pollsters found in January, in the aftermath of Good\u2019s and Pretti\u2019s killings.\n <\/p>

Read more Trump says FBI is \u2018wasting their time\u2019 if they\u2019re pursuing conspiracy theories in Graham death investigation<\/a><\/p>\n

\n And even just having ICE back in the news would seem to be bad for the Trump administration given the agency\u2019s longstanding unpopularity. In fact, polling as far back as a year ago \u2014 well before the Minneapolis killings \u2014 showed ICE hitting what was then new levels of unpopularity.\n <\/p>\n

\n In other words, Americans seem to have had a problem with how the administration has carried out its deportations for a long time. The January killings appeared to raise the salience of that issue in ways that were unhelpful for the administration.\n <\/p>\n

\n And that\u2019s the political danger in the killings in Maine and Texas.\n <\/p>\n

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\nRonaldo Salgado holds a photograph of his father, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was fatally shot by an ICE agent, during a news conference, in Houston, Texas, on July 8, 2026.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
Antranik Tavitian\/Reuters<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n Much remains to shake out there, and the situations aren\u2019t completely analogous to what happened in Minneapolis.\n <\/p>\n

\n One key distinction is the lack of video footage as substantial as existed in Minneapolis, where many protesters were around to capture the events. The agents in both shootings this month don\u2019t appear to have worn body cameras, despite efforts after Minneapolis to get such agents outfitted in them.\n <\/p>\n

\n That footage in Minneapolis not only contradicted what the Trump administration had initially claimed about the killings; it led Americans to conclude by large margins that the immigration agents were at fault.\n <\/p>\n

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\"Federal<\/figure>\nwas shot and killed by federal agents.” class=”wp-image-5776″ width=”768″ height=”513″ \/><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In pictures: The Minneapolis immigration crackdown<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n 34 photos\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\nFederal agents confront protestors in Minneapolis during clashes in the aftermath of a fatal shooting on January 24. Earlier in the day Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis resident, was shot and killed by federal agents.<\/span>\n
David Guttenfelder\/The New York Times\/Redux<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n\n In pictures: The Minneapolis immigration crackdown\n <\/span>\n