The ICE shootings are a tipping point

Donald Trump's approval on immigration has dropped 18 points since taking office, and support for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement has swung 50 points since Sept. 2024

Note: I wrote this article the morning of Monday, Jan. 26, before news broke that Greg Bovino is being fired as “commander at large” of U.S. border control (the White House disputes the reporting), and that Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski could be next. Bovino’s ouster is further evidence that the politics of immigration enforcement are deteriorating quickly for the Trump administration, and that the backlash I describe below is now driving consequences inside the White House. I’m not saying that this is proof of the tipping point I argue we have hit on immigration, but if we had hit a tipping point, these are the consequences we’d probably see.