Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who is running as an independent gubernatorial candidate, is refusing to say how he would handle federal immigration enforcement if elected governor, even as public opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement is surging nationwide.
After Metro Times submitted six detailed questions about how a Duggan administration would approach ICE policy, the campaign declined to answer any of them. Instead, campaign spokeswoman Andrea Bitely responded generically.
“Mayor Duggan’s position on ICE has been articulated repeatedly,” she said in a statement. “He has not wavered in his position in 12 years. As Governor, Mayor Duggan will deal with each circumstance as it arises and will act to protect the people of Michigan and make sure the law is enforced fairly and consistently.”
The response did not address whether Duggan would support limits on ICE arrests at schools, restrict how state agencies share information with federal immigration authorities, block state property from being used as detention centers, oppose the use of state police at ICE raids, or set boundaries if President Donald Trump sought expanded operations in Michigan.
The refusal comes as ICE enforcement has become one of the most polarizing issues of the 2026 governor’s race. Duggan, a longtime Democrat, has shifted his rhetoric to court Trump voters.
His campaign has also raked in a lot of Republican cash and outside dark money. A sizable share of his fundraising came from Trump, GOP party leaders, and conservative power brokers with vested interests in state policy.
Nationally, residents are growing increasingly opposed to ICE following the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were killed by federal immigration agents in Minnesota. Sixty-five percent of Americans now say ICE has “gone too far” in enforcing immigration laws, an 11-point jump since last summer, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. Six in 10 disapprove of the job ICE is doing, and nearly the same share say the agency is making Americans less safe. A 59% majority also say mass protests against ICE are mostly legitimate.
The shift is being driven largely by independents and Democrats, while Trump’s approval rating stands at 39%, with 56% disapproving and 51% strongly disapproving, the Marist poll found.
Duggan’s unwillingness to propose any limits on enforcement could have serious consequences if he’s elected and ICE steps up actions in Michigan.
In the first 10 months of 2025, ICE arrested more than 2,300 immigrants in Michigan, according to the Deportation Data Project, which obtains arrest data through Freedom of Information Act requests and lawsuits. That figure is nearly triple the number of arrests made in all of 2024, when Joe Biden was president. Most of the immigrants arrested by ICE under Trump did not have a criminal record. Some were as young as four years old.
Immigration advocates are also warning that ICE is getting crueler and more deceptive in Michigan to increase the number of deportations.
In June 2025, Detroit police assisted ICE during a raid on the city’s west side, where armed federal agents stormed a home and officers pepper-sprayed and arrested protesters. Duggan’s administration later said Detroit police must honor ICE detainers when someone is already in local custody, and city officials defended the department’s role in managing demonstrators at the scene.
Duggan, who left office at the end of the year, has not condemned those operations. Instead, he has repeatedly emphasized cooperation with federal immigration authorities and argued that Detroit avoids problems with the Trump administration by not interfering with ICE. In September 2025, Duggan said the city was not “drawing the kind of controversy other cities are” because it does not interfere with enforcement.
His language has also hardened. At a Detroit Regional Chamber event in January 2025, Duggan said, “If you are in this country illegally, we should not be shielding you from ICE and federal enforcement, and the city of Detroit does not. We’re not a sanctuary city.”
That rhetoric marks a significant shift over previous years. In April 2022, Duggan proudly declared that Detroit was the state’s first “Certified Welcoming” city and highlighted refugee resettlement.
“We are thrilled Detroit has achieved the status of becoming a ‘Certified Welcoming’ city,” Duggan said in a statement at the time. “This designation is recognition that our city is intentional in its efforts to make sure our valued immigrant neighbors can access every opportunity our city offers. Detroiters are welcoming by their nature, and now know their city government supports them with policies and practices that ensure equitable access for all its residents, in all aspects of our society.”
Now Duggan won’t even address what he’d do about immigration enforcement if elected governor. It’s part of a broader refusal to take positions that would anger Trump supporters.
In November 2025, appearing on WXYZ’s Spotlight on the News, Duggan declined to say whether Trump’s threats of jailing and executing political opponents had gone too far. That includes remarks directed at Democratic lawmakers such as U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan.
“I’ve stayed out of these national debates,” Duggan said. “I’m not going to get involved in the national debate.”
At the time, his campaign argued that he was running for state office, not federal office. But immigration enforcement has become a state issue in practice, as ICE operations routinely rely on state and local law enforcement, access to facilities, and information sharing.
Duggan’s campaign insists he has not changed his views, only his party affiliation. But by declining to answer what authority a Michigan governor should use to limit cooperation with ICE, whether schools and state facilities should be shielded from enforcement actions, or how he would respond to expanded federal operations, Duggan is leaving voters without clear answers on how he would use his power if elected.
The 2026 governor’s race is shaping up to be extremely tight, with early polling showing Republican John James at 34%, Democrat Jocelyn Benson at 32%, and Duggan at 26%. The survey suggests Duggan is gaining traction and could hurt Democrats.