The poll was conducted as leaders in the state’s capital city and a county attorney feud with Attorney General Austin Knudsen on the issue.
By Nora Mabie MONTANA FREE PRESS
Most Montanans say they support local law enforcement working with federal immigration enforcement agencies, a new Montana Free Press-Eagleton poll found.
While local law enforcement entities are not inherently required to enforce federal immigration law, they can choose to temporarily detain a person of interest on behalf of a federal immigration enforcement entity or share relevant information with an agency like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol. Local jurisdictions can also receive funding and additional resources when they partner with federal immigration entities.
The poll, which surveyed more than 800 registered voters in late April and early May, found that, regardless of several high-profile disputes on the matter in Helena and Gallatin counties, 59% of respondents at least mostly support local law enforcement working with agencies like Border Patrol and ICE.
Criminal justice experts say working with federal immigration enforcement agencies at a time of public skepticism about federal enforcement tactics can also weaken public trust in local law enforcement. Opting out of immigration enforcement, however, can also come with risk. Officials in the city of Helena and Gallatin County have grappled with the political and financial consequences of limiting local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement entities.
In late January, amid mounting public pressure, the Helena City Commission passed a resolution directing the Helena Police Department not to enter into partnerships with ICE. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen then issued a cease-and-desist order, alleging the resolution violated a state law banning sanctuary cities. Two months after enacting the resolution, city commissioners voted to rescind it. While commissioners attempted to collaborate with Knudsen on an amended version of the resolution, Knudsen ultimately declined the invitation, saying that any local immigration policy would be subject to an investigation. City officials have seemingly halted their efforts to reestablish the resolution since.
In April, Knudsen sent a similar cease-and-desist to Gallatin County Attorney Audrey Cromwell, alleging that the county prosecutor’s office had a policy not to recognize ICE as a law enforcement agency entitled to receive certain confidential information. Cromwell has maintained there is no such policy and, earlier this month, the Montana Supreme Court agreed to weigh in on the issue.
The MTFP-Eagleton poll also asked respondents whether they approve or disapprove of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration — the same question a previous MTFP-Eagleton poll asked in December and January. In the winter poll, conducted before federal immigration officers killed Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota and before Border Patrol arrested Froid diesel mechanic Roberto Orozco-Ramirez, 49% of respondents said they strongly approved of the president’s approach to immigration, while 8% said they somewhat approved, 4% said they somewhat disapproved, and 37% said they strongly disapproved. Asked the same question in late April and early May, the numbers stayed the same.
MTFP reporter JoVonne Wagner contributed to this story.
The MTFP–Eagleton poll surveyed registered voters in Montana who were invited by text message to complete an online survey. Data was collected from April 29, 2026, to May 7, 2026.
Participants were recruited using a probability-based method, meaning they were randomly drawn from the state’s registered voter file so every voter had a known chance of being invited. The results were weighted during analysis to reflect the demographics of Montana’s registered voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. You can find more about the methodology here.
