Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.In today’s edition, Natasha Korecki digs into the perilous immigration politics facing the Trump administration and the GOP.Plus, we preview the key races to watch as primary results roll in this evening.
Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here.— Adam WollnerTrump’s ICE crackdown returns to the spotlight as the midterms loomAnalysis by Natasha KoreckiPresident Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is revving up its operations across the country — a move fraught with political risk as the midterm elections draw closer.While the Department of Homeland Security is under new direction with Secretary Markwayne Mullin at the helm, many of the past controversies that have loomed over the administration’s immigration agenda are back at the fore: questions over whom ICE is targeting for arrest, fatal shootings after vehicle stops and the conditions and deaths of those in detention.Negative headlines in cities big and small — including in battleground states — have returned in full force.
So, too, has public outcry over it all.There’s evidence of the political peril of bringing the country back to the height of immigration clashes.
In the wake of two shootings of U.S.citizens in Minnesota by federal immigration agents earlier this year, an NBC News poll found that 60% of adults disapproved of Trump’s handling of immigration and border security.
It was a sizable shift from earlier polls in which immigration was one of Trump’s strongest issues.Not much has changed.
A July Economist/YouGov poll found that 54% of Americans disapproved of Trump’s handling of immigration, while the same proportion said they had little or no confidence in ICE.And 58% of those surveyed, including 63% of independents, said ICE has used too...