Poll: Only a quarter of Democrats back push to abolish ICE

Only a quarter of Democrats support abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, according to a new poll.

A similar percentage of Republicans and independents surveyed supported eliminating the agency, according to a poll released Monday by The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The two parties do split on how they view the agency.

{mosads}More Democratic respondents view the agency unfavorably than Republicans. The poll found that 57 percent of Democrats surveyed had a negative view of ICE, compared to 57 percent of Republicans polled who said they view the agency favorably.

The poll comes as the debate over the role of ICE has become contentious. The agency was at the forefront of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which led to the separation of thousands of migrant children from their parents.

Some Democrats have called for the elimination of the agency, including House hopeful Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who shocked longtime incumbent Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) in the Democratic primary in New York’s 14th District.

Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) became the first sitting senator to call for the elimination of ICE when she did so in June.

ICE has also served as a rallying cry for President Trump ahead of November’s midterms.

Last week, he said in a video message on his Twitter feed that “[House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats want to abolish the brave men and women of ICE” while he wants to “abolish the killers in ISIS.”

The poll, which was conducted Aug. 16-20, consisted of interviews with 1,055 adults. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.