Question 1): Amazingly, no Michigan pollster has yet asked a question measuring the popularity among the state’s voters of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Can that be determined?
Answer 1): In Michigan, no, but it’s certain that any such a survey would find that views of ICE are deeply polarized along partisan lines. Yes, a 2024-2025 survey of voters by the University of Maryland (sic) Program for Public Consultation (PPC) showed that 63% of Michigan respondents favored creating a legal pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants rather than mass deportation. Similarly, A 2025 poll of likely voters in Detroit asked whether the city should use resources to help the federal government — including ICE — remove undocumented immigrants. Only 13.5% (strongly or somewhat support) said yes, while 78.8% (strongly or somewhat oppose) said no. In the same Detroit-focused poll, 86.6% of respondents said Motown is a “welcoming city for immigrants.” But those results don’t really answer the question of how Michiganders feel about how ICE has operated for the past 11 months. These polls don’t measure “ICE favorability” per se. Still, they provide relevant context indicating strong resistance — at least among Detroit voters — toward cooperation with ICE’s deportation efforts. And more broadly across Michigan, there appears to be at least moderate support for immigrant-friendly policies (e.g., a pathway to citizenship). Bottom line: Support for a crackdown on the Biden-era “mess at the border” had strong support in 2024 among American voters in general — but now it doesn’t, based on what the citizenry has seen so far this year. Republicans who profited from the immigration issue in the 2024 election will argue that law and order are still what is most important, and that, as the old saw goes, “you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.” However, even some conservatives are now beginning to raise questions. To be sure, there’s a vanishing middle here, with the extreme left and hard right drowning out the large “moderate middle” who believe we should be able to rein in massive undocumented immigration but also have a legal immigration process that works.
************************************
Question 2): Ballot Proposal 1 for Michigan’s voters on the Nov. 3, 2026, general election broadsheet will be whether there should be another Constitutional Convention in the Great Lakes State. Such a question is mandated by the current Constitution every 16 years. What are the chances any important interest groups will support a “Yes” vote? And what are the odds it will pass?
Answer 2): The odds are long, very long, on both questions. A smattering of Republican activists are calling for a new Con-Con, but Democratic interests have put together the beginning of a campaign to stop it. The political environment today is totally different than it was back in 1959-60, when the question of whether to have a ew Con-Con barely made it onto the ballot, and then, after the convention’s work was done, its product was barely approved by the state’s voters. Since then, whether to have a new Con-Con has been on the ballot three times and has been crushed every time — in 1978, the question failed 77 to 23 percent. In 1994, it failed 72 to 28 percent. In 2010, it failed 67-33 percent. When the electorate learns what a “Yes” vote this time means in terms of cost and timeline, among other possible negatives, they’ll be turned off. It’s difficult to see any wealthy individual or deep-pocketed group devoting the financial resources for a Con-Con. First, millions would have to be spent to win a “Yes” vote to hold it. Then, tens of millions more would have to be spent to elect delegates. Add to that tens of millions more to ratify whatever comes out of the convention. Keep in mind that also on the same ballot will be open seats for the U.S. Senate, Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State, not to mention the entire state Senate and House of Representatives, Congress, and a couple of seats on the Supreme Court. In that context, a Constitutional Convention will be a low priority for almost everyone.
***************************************
Thank you for this commentary. It underscores important issues.
Points of discussion:
(A) I recall when Laura Cox ran for MIGOP chair and won – she promoted herself as a former gun-toting ICE agent – an a significant percentage of Republicans believe that immigrants are bad for America and illegal immigrants should be arrested and deported at the earliest opportunity;
(B) 83% of all murder arrest warrants issued by the Maricopa County District Attorney Office in Arizona name identify illegal immigrants as defendants;
(C) the massive increasing violent crime statistics in Texas have been fueled by unemployed and undocumented Mexican immigrants who need to enter criminal activity to earn a living – so much so that large numbers of Mexican-Americans in the Rio Grande Valley are supporting ICE and becoming Republican activists.
That said, the vast majority of immigrants who come to this nation are hard-working people who enrich America. One of Obama’s most popular programs were the “Dreamers” – young aliens who could earn U.S. citizenship by completing certain steps. That program has been generally considered successful. Children brought to America by immigrant parents committed no crime and deserve some deference by the U.S. government.
What is hurting Trump and the GOP is the reports of abuses that have been documented against ICE agents. Assault and other other misconduct allegations have sullied the good name of ICE and need to be addressed effectively via enforcement and prevention.
God bless America, Donald Trump and ICE!
Switching gears, the Con-Con will not pass in 2026 – neither GOP nor the Dems want it.
I bet Laura Cox when she was an ICE officer didn’t hide her face with a mask or drive through neighborhoods in unmarked vehicles. Did Laua Cox pull over cars and order the occupants out of their vehicle smashing the car’s driver’s side window if not
immediately complied with.
ICE behavior often time is plain out cruel. Recently a citizenship ceremony was held
in Boston. ICE plucked out of line as they lined up to enter the ceremony those immigrants from countries no longer favored by President
Trump who were in the country
legally and passed their citizenship test and ordered by ICE to leave the ceremony. This action does not deserve God’s blessing.
Why the phony ‘ICE as Gestapo’ subterfuge?
Why not just come out for open borders and amnesty for all illegals?
The chronic dishonesty of the left in stating their true political goals has poisoned American politics. Why we have a cold civil war.
How would you describe an agency that travels in unmarked vehicles, whose personnel wear masks and are unidentified, who arrest people based on their looks or the language they speak, and who arrest or rough up onlookers, including reporters, in the process? ICE has a necessary job, but it currently is given methods and goals that guarantee abuse and maximize cruelty, and intentionally so. Note that both Obama and Biden administrations deported comparable numbers of people Trump deported in his first term. Also note that legislation that would have provided resources to properly vette immigrants was effectively killed by Donald Trump to preserve immigration as a campaign issue.
1) Unmarked vehicles are a routine form of transportation by American federal, state, and local law enforcement officers. By what logic do you deny this form of transportation to ICE officers?
2) ICE officers wear masks to avoid doxxing, a favorite tactic of the demented left to stigmatize disfavored individuals so their their mentally ill compatriots can kill or maim – in this case both the officers and their families. Assaults on ICE officers are up 500% since the beginning of the year because the left’s anti-ICE campaign has sanctioned widespread resistance to law enforcement on the part of illegal aliens.
3) ICE officers are entitled to stop persons based upon reasonable suspicion and arrest if they develop probable cause after questioning individuals. This power of law enforcement goes back to Jolly Ol’ England. Are you denying ICE officers centuries old privileges?
4) Interfering with federal law enforcement is a felony crime under 18 U.S.C. § 111, which prohibits actions such as assaulting, resisting, or impeding federal officers while they are performing their official duties. Whom do you exempt from this federal law when mobs attack ICE officers?
5) The claim that “both Obama and Biden administrations deported comparable numbers of people Trump deported” is a lie. DHS confabulated expulsions at the border with removals from the interior. Both the Obama and Biden Administrations played a game with illegal immigrants at the border where they were turned away – usually several times – until they got through. This artificially pumped up their deportation numbers, probably to 3x or 4x the actual numbers. This game is not the same as removals from the interior, which the Trump 45 Administration excelled at despite many legal impediments.
6) There is a large backlog of individuals seeking authority to immigrate into the United States. Most have to wait 10 years or more. How is it fair to them to allow border jumpers and visa overstays to claim immigration priority, regardless of vetting?
Remember Elian Gonzales. I do. Clinton didn’t call it ICE back then, BATF. Talk about Jack Boot thugs. Got such a bad name they had to change it. Clearly takes one to know one. I wish I could post that famous pic here.
Your whining is just an attempt to try to call the kettle black. Most know better.
I suoport ICE ! With AI predicted to eliminate up to 60% of all jobs. Especially lower educated. It is C R A Z Y to support more immigration of any kind.
People will be acting out in our streets and nieghborhoods like
the WALKING-DEAD ZOMBIES.
Democrats are smearing ICE – such as Minnesota governor Tim Walz – comparing them to the Nazi Gestapo police organization.
Many Americans feel that a viciously efficient secret police unit that is feared is something to be desired rather than loathed.
The Israeli Shin Bet, Iranian SAVAK and East German Stasi are examples of these type of ruthless police agencies that have earned a mystique that resonates to this day in the regions which they have operated.
While civil libertarians can complain about the questionable conduct if ICE – the obvious and justified – fear it instills in undocumented aliens is something conservative elements feel is a benefit rather than a hindrance to the mission of ICE.
Study the “Great Migration” of Mexican-Americans leaving Detroit during the Great Depression due to oppression by the federal government. If you were of Mexican ancestry and unable to produce a U.S. birth certificate, you were arrested and sent on a train to Mexico. Case closed. This method separated permanently many lawful Mexican- American residents and U.S. citizens from their families. Not an ideal way of enforcing immigration laws but it gave “true Americans” a better shot at employment when jobs were tight. The deported Mexican-Americans were told that better employment opportunities awaited them in Mexico.
Nice article, Bill.
QUESTION 1: Media coverage on immigration enforcement has been mostly negative – the Maryland Man, anyone? Also, many federal district court judges are stepping into the mess against enforcement and deportation with broad-based injunctions and such, though Congress legislated that most immigration issues should handled through the immigration judges who are Article II employees. This has been further muddled by the Supreme Court’s inherent laziness and lack of desire to rein in the lower courts. So, it is not surprising that opinion has changed. But the questioning does not go in the right direction. Way back in 2007, John McCain tried to get “comprehensive immigration reform” enacted. Normally, the Democrats like that (or so we are told), but as McCain was running for President, they killed it with a poison pill that the GOP could not accept. They did the same thing in 2008. But they have done nothing since then, even when they had the White House, an overwhelming majority in the House and filibuster proof majority in the Senate.
It may, or may not, change only when the number of illegal immigrants are indicted for criminal acts are as publicized as well ICE arrests and alleged abuses.
As for the conservatives raising questions, how much of that is their desire for cheaper labor.
QUESTION 2: Con-con would be a mess. It should go down. Though the yes votes are getting a bit higher each time it is on the ballot…
Great follow up Mr. Sullivan! Thank You!
You’re welcome.
“It may, or may not, change only when the number of illegal immigrants are indicted for criminal acts are as publicized as well ICE arrests and alleged abuses.”
There is no comprehensive data base of the immigration status of convicted criminals, even felons. This information is deliberately withheld from the public in most locales to maintain the fiction of “cultural enrichment”. To be truthful, almost all the crime statistics in this country are deceitfully perverted to achieve political goals.
Republicans have to challenge this subterfuge in 2026, or the lie by omission crowd will win the midterms. Just getting truthful numbers from the red states alone will go a long way to rehabilitating ICE in the public eye.
No to the ConCon. Yes to ICE and the brave officers that put their lives on the line for us. If I were only fifty years younger, I’d join in a heartbeat. A couple years ago, illegal aliens cost Michigan taxpayers over a billion dollars. That money should have been spent on Michiganders, not criminal alien trespassers. God bless ICE, President Donald J.Trump and the United States of America.
Mr. Bill Ballenger, An informative and spot on analysis!
CKH
Bill, when you ask questions such as these, I get the sneaking feeling that you know some demo graphical information the typical Michigander, like me, doesn’t have or know. These are like the incessant questions we got on, oh say,
– abortion
– LGBTQ marriages
– legalized marijuana
– gun control
– state lotteries
– gas taxes
– legalized gambling
– tobacco bans
– Whacky liberal NGO’s becoming the same as churches in the tax code, i.e., 501-c3’s
All just before they were approved despite overwhelming disapproval by the general public at the time the polls began their incessant questioning campaigns. All of which are patent socialist/communist pet projects. The water seems to be boiling but that’s OK, I don’t feel it because the temps gone up so slowly.
So, I’ll go out on a limb and say, YES! We absolutely NEED a Con Con in spite of the fact when one is called, Michigan’s entire foreseeable future will absolutely be placed into the hands of a couple hundred (mostly) lawyers that have an absolute vested interest in absolutely limiting “cranky” people’s voice, action, food, medical, citizenship liberties.
And YES! We absolutely hate those ICE thugs who, how dare they, attempt to follow the law and protect law abiding citizens of America whether, or not, they want people who jumped ahead in the immigration line and came into the country irrespective of existing laws, i.e., illegally.
These kinds of questions drive me nuts but, like the A-Bomb, I’ve learned to stop worrying about and just tend to love them now . . . pardon me, I think I’m gonna be sick . . .
Lebrandt is right, ICE has abused any trust it had before 2025 because of its tactics, The issue is not “Do you support ICE “ but “Do you support the Gestapo tactics ICE has engaged in ?”
It isn’t just ICE that is opposed by the libs. The mentally ill Ann Arbor City Council voted 10 to nothing on December 15th to remove all neighborhood watch signs in the city by July 15. The city strives “to be more welcoming and inclusive.” They presumably want criminals to culturally enrich Ann Arbor.
Previously, the Ann Arbor City Council abolished police traffic stops for defective equipment violations. The argument was that it historically been used pretextually to harass black drivers.
Check out the $1.2 million ARPA grant authorized by the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners to the registered non-profit corporation known as “Supreme Felons” – ex-convicts contracted to do community service work and led by a paroled murderer who within one year of his release obtained special deputy credentials from the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Department. A2 Independent received a journalism award for exposing this injudicious use of federal revenue sharing funds.
The City of Ann Arbor has been on the cutting edge of progressive rollbacks of law enforcement.
Removing illegal immigrants is starting to cut inflation, which also puts the lie to the Democrat’s “affordability” attack on President Trump.
BLS just reported that in November the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose 2.7 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy increased 2.6 percent over the year. This is down 0.3% from their last report in September. Huge drop in just two months.
The seasonally adjusted shelter index has fallen 0.1% in each of the last three reported months. Shelter was the inflation vanguard during Droolin’ Joe’s administration, but President Trump is bringing it under control.
Eventually, even the dumbest Democrats will realize that this drop in inflation is due to ICE and their removal efforts.
Providence police cannot identify the Brown campus killer because the university administration turned off their CCTV system to protect legal and illegal immigrants protesting against Israel from ICE. Brown’s administration acceded to a request from 34 human rights groups made in August to turn off Brown’s security cameras so there would be no images available for any ICE warrants.
Anyone care to bet that the killer knew this?
There are many forms of surveillance that can implicate suspects in criminal activity that are not necessarily intended for security purposes.
Today, cell phone towers and GPS devices on automobiles can trace a person’s movements and leave an electronic “footprint’ that can be used as evidence in a court of law.
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment for those who appear in public and any protections against such closed circuit surveillance must be as a matter of public policy via the authorized channels.
The people in charge at Brown obviously debated the matter and felt that privacy protection of protesting students and other individuals overrode any interest to law enforcement goals.In light of the violent events there that debate may be revisited.