A new public opinion poll shows two-thirds of Americans now disapprove of ICE, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That spells trouble for taxpayers and everyone who wants safe neighborhoods.
A majority of Americans voted for President Donald Trump to enforce immigration laws.
The poll, done just after the shooting of two anti-ICE activists in Minneapolis, indicates how Democratic rhetoric and misleading media reports are causing many Americans to change their minds.
Democrats in Congress are trying to hold back funds for ICE enforcement.
If this growing movement to hamstring ICE and let recent illegals stay here succeeds, hold onto your wallet: Either the criminal migrants roving the streets will rob you, or you’ll have to empty your wallet yourself to pay for the welfare benefits that illegal immigrants consume.
More From Betsy McCaughey
Last week, New York City cops nabbed four gun-toting criminals who robbed a couple on West 47th Street.
Because of New York’s pro-criminal laws, a judge let them back on the street within hours.
Here’s what’s key: Three of the thugs already were wanted on ICE detainers.
If politicians would let ICE do its job and remove these criminals, we’d be a lot safer.
New York data show illegal immigrants commit crimes three times as often as legal residents.
Politicians who demand ICE leave their states are stabbing the public in the back.
New Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D.) ordered state law enforcement to dissolve any partnerships with ICE.
Illinois’ Gov. JB Pritzker is calling for the agency’s abolition.
Connecticut’s Gov. Ned Lamont is telling ICE to “go home.”
In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul introduced legislation to limit local police cooperation with ICE, calling it “a rogue federal agency unleashed on the American streets for the sole purpose of creating chaos and fear.” Nonsense.
The tragic deaths in Minnesota need to be investigated, and ICE training procedures need to be adapted to the new reality of subversive agitators, likely belonging to the Chinese Communist Party-linked People’s Forum, egging on crowds to obstruct ICE agents.
They are not trained to handle this manufactured obstruction.
But ICE’s core mission is vital.
Violent crime surged during President Joe Biden’s four years — at the same time the United States experienced an unprecedented influx of illegal migrants.
Over 60% of those arrested by ICE in the last year have pending criminal charges or convictions, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons testified to Congress on Tuesday.
Get opinions and commentary from our columnists
Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!
Thanks for signing up!
Yet it’s not just crime: If ICE is allowed to remove illegals, more of the nation’s generous welfare benefits can go to needy Americans.
An estimated 61% of households headed by an illegal immigrant used federal welfare benefits in 2024, including SNAP food assistance, Medicaid, federally supported health centers, substance-abuse treatment programs, mental-health services and Head Start, per the Center for Immigration Studies.
Illegal migrants are not eligible for these things under federal law, and Trump cracked down on their use when he took office in 2025.
But many blue states, including California, Connecticut and New York, then shifted the cost to state taxpayers, blaming Trump’s “harsh cuts.”
Unless ICE deports a large number of those who entered the country unlawfully, overstayed visas or were paroled during the Biden presidency, these migrants will cost America $1.5 trillion over their lifetimes.
Migrants ages 18 to 24 without a high-school diploma cost taxpayers the most, consuming $332,000 in welfare and health benefits, according to the Manhattan Institute.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani couldn’t care less. He just announced that the roughly 31,000 migrants depending on the city’s shelter system can stay for an unlimited time, at an estimated cost of $270 a day per family.
Mayor Eric Adams imposed a 30-60 day limit, to save taxpayers’ money, but Mamdani is throwing that limit to the wind.
On Friday, Hizzoner barred ICE from accessing records of those who use public benefits, saying “no New Yorker should be afraid to apply for city services like child care because they are an immigrant.”
Mamdani urges generosity “for the stranger among us.” Soaring rhetoric to be sure.
But soon the mayor will have to deal with the reality of a multibillion-dollar budget hole, and ask other New Yorkers to make sacrifices to provide child care for illegals.
In 2023, Adams warned that the influx of illegals “would destroy New York City.”
He was right. The city can’t care for an unlimited number of “strangers among us.”
Mandami needs to put aside the fairytale rhetoric and work out an arrangement with his texting buddy — Donald Trump — to enable ICE to do its job safely here.
In Gotham and across the nation, ICE is needed. Don’t fall for the manufactured hysteria.
Betsy McCaughey, a former lieutenant governor of New York, is vying to be on the Republican ballot as a candidate for Connecticut governor.