The GOP begins to balk at Trump’s heavy-handed immigration enforcement

For months, it’s been increasingly clear that President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push hasn’t gone well.

Despite record low numbers of border crossings, Trump’s poll numbers on immigration have fallen into decidedly negative territory. The past year seems to have taken its toll on public opinion — the rapid deportations without required due process, sending migrants to a brutal foreign prison (and mistakenly doing so), videos involving aggressive and masked ICE agents, and many deportations of non-criminals whom Americans tend to view more sympathetically.

But through it all, Trump’s allies generally stood by his push. They argued that Democrats were overreaching by objecting and siding with undocumented immigrants. Republicans even largely closed ranks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis earlier this month.

But a second killing by a federal officer in two and half weeks on Saturday – of Alex Pretti – appears to be changing the dynamic on the right.

For arguably the first time, we’re seeing what had been a mostly united GOP front on Trump’s immigration crackdown begin to spring leaks.

Calls for an investigation and less defending of the shooters

In most cases, Trump’s allies are coming not out against his mass deportation policy. But they are raising red flags — almost warning signs that they have their limits and suggestions that a new strategy might be in order.

The main form this has taken is many Republicans calling for real investigations of Pretti’s killing.

We’ve seen it from the usual, more-moderate suspects like Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who often criticize Trump and his administration. (The North Carolina Republican is not running for reelection.) But we’re also seeing it from lawmakers who don’t usually speak out – like Ohio Sen. Jon Husted, Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick, Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts, Florida Rep. Kat Cammack and Washington Rep. Michael Baumgartner.

House Homeland Security Chairman Andrew Garbarino, a New York Republican, also quickly re-upped his call to have top immigration officials testify.

Calling for an investigation of a deadly shooting by a federal agent would seem a low bar, given that’s usually a matter of course. And it’s surely an attractive way to speak out without directly criticizing the administration.

But it’s a notable pivot compared with the aftermath of Good’s killing. Republicans generally defended the ICE agent in that situation right away, which few outside the administration are doing today. And they overwhelmingly stood by as the administration made great pains to prevent a full investigation of that shooting.

The message from these Republicans now seems to be: No more sweeping this kind of behavior under the rug. If this keeps happening, it’s going to require a real accounting.

We’re also seeing subtle pushback in other ways:

• There have been leaks to conservative–leaning media figures about discontent inside the administration over the Department of Homeland Security’s claims about this episode, in which it baselessly suggested Pretti aimed to “massacre” the federal agents and suggested he was a terrorist.
• Fox News has been pressing the administration pretty hard on its claims, including the normally Trump-loyal Maria Bartiromo.
• Conservative-leaning editorial boards at the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post are urging de-escalation.

Some stronger hints of a change in course

Some other prominent Republicans even seem to be hinting at a more wholesale change in strategy.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky floated to Bartiromo that Trump could “maybe go to another city and let the people of Minneapolis decide, ‘Do we want to continue to have all of these illegals?’”

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, meanwhile, suggested that Americans aren’t on board with Trump’s tactics. (Stitt has previously raised federalist concerns about Trump impinging on states’ rights.)

“Americans are asking themselves: ‘What is the endgame? What is the solution?’ We believe in federalism and state rights. And nobody likes feds coming into their states,” Stitt told CNN’s Dana Bash. “And so what’s the goal right now? Is it to deport every single non-US citizen? I don’t think that’s what Americans want.”

Signs the administration feels the pressure

The administration has watered down its initial claims about a “massacre” and domestic terrorism, suggesting it may be hearing the concern from its own party and is aware of the political peril.

In Monday’s briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she has not heard Trump characterize Pretti as a domestic terrorist, despite others in his administration using that rhetoric.

And Trump in an interview with the Journal over the weekend sounded uncertain about defending the officer involved too much and even allowed, “At some point we will leave.”

Then on Monday, Trump said he had a good call with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whom the administration has continued to blame for “chaos” on the ground. The Democratic governor said Trump signaled a willingness to reduce the number of agents in Minneapolis.

And perhaps most significantly, the president announced border czar Tom Homan will head to Minneapolis to start running things, which could signal a change in strategy.

Homan is an immigration hard-liner, to be sure. But he is generally viewed as less aggressive than Boder Patrol chief Greg Bovino, and has tended to favor targeted operations focused on criminals and national security threats rather than broad sweeps.

Republicans including Senate Majority Leader John Thune were praising the move on Monday. “This is a positive development — one that I hope leads to turning down the temperature and restoring order in Minnesota,” the South Dakota Republican said.

A tension that’s been a long time coming

We’ll have to see just how much the administration changes up its actions. Trump is certainly loath to give into his critics.

But the discomfort on the right has been a long time coming.

Americans soured on Trump’s version of mass deportation as early as last summer. But views have hardened, and the issue has gained relevancy and urgency in recent months with the heavy-handed operations in Chicago and Minneapolis. The percentage of Americans who have said ICE is “too tough” in CBS News-YouGov polling has gone from 53% in October to 56% in November to 61% this month, after Good’s killing.

We’re also now in an election year, when some of these Republicans may fear a backlash on this issue could harm them politically.

You could certainly argue they should have seen political problems coming when the administration began shipping non-criminal migrants to a brutal El Salvador prison as far back as spring 2025.

But sometimes it takes tragedy — and a looming election — to get people to summon their voices. And some Republicans are starting to voice some unsubtle hints to the administration.