If you have been following California politics like it is a reality show, here is the latest episode. A new poll finds a strong push among Democrats to disband U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Some Democratic candidates in the governor's race have publicly called for the agency's dissolution or even proposed that California refuse to hire ICE agents.

Not just Democrats

The discomfort with ICE is not limited to one party. Independents split pretty evenly: about two in five said ICE should be disbanded and about two in five said it should be reformed. And roughly one third of Republicans said the agency should be reformed rather than left alone.

"There is significant concern among people in both parties about the behavior of this organization," said Amy E. Lerman, a public policy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who helped design the poll questions. She noted it is unclear whether those who favor disbanding ICE want no federal immigration enforcement at all or want to end the agency because of how it has operated.

How Californians want to rein in federal agents

Voters had clear preferences for specific limits on ICE powers:

  • 49 percent supported a law that would ban federal agents from wearing masks. That law has been blocked in court.
  • 62 percent favored requiring ICE agents to wear body cameras.
  • 56 percent wanted ICE to follow a code of conduct similar to local police departments.

Where this fits in the bigger immigration picture

The poll also shows Californians pushing back on aggressive deportation strategies tied to the previous presidential administration. Majorities opposed sending federal troops to cities that do not cooperate with federal authorities, and many backed pathways to citizenship or permanent residency for undocumented immigrants.

  • 61 percent opposed deploying federal troops to cities that do not cooperate with federal enforcement.
  • 62 percent supported offering undocumented immigrants paths to citizenship or permanent residency.
  • Two thirds said maintaining California's economic growth and workforce matters more than prioritizing enforcement and removal of undocumented immigrants.

Border security versus workforce reality

The results show voters are balancing two concerns at once. A large share think border security is important, yet many also worry about the economic effects of removing undocumented workers.

  • A clear majority said securing the borders and stopping illegal immigration is important. That includes about two thirds of independents and 41 percent of Democrats.
  • 71 percent of voters said California's economy would suffer if millions of undocumented immigrants disappeared from the workforce. That group includes a 45 percent plurality of Republicans.

"There are two conversations happening," Lerman said. One is about limiting new arrivals and the other is about what to do with people who are already part of the economy.

About the poll

The findings come from parallel surveys of California registered voters and of policy and political influencers. The research was fielded by an AI-accelerated research platform in collaboration with UC Berkeley's Citrin Center and POLITICO.

The voter survey was conducted online in English and Spanish from February 25 to March 3, 2026, among 1,220 registered voters chosen at random by a survey vendor. Results were weighted using the Current Population Survey and California registration data.

A parallel study of political and policy influencers ran from February 24 to March 3, 2026. That audience included state and local government employees, political staffers, lobbyists, policy advisers, consultants, business decision-makers and subject matter experts, identified by job title and affiliation.

The margin of error is plus or minus 2.8 percent for the voter survey and plus or minus 3.7 percent for the influencers survey.