You presume that "dealing with illegal immigration has popular support" is the same as "the public broadly supports arbitrary cruelty to illegal immigrants".
The US population (~80%) appears to think "dealing with illegal immigration" should mean "provide a path to citizenship" [1]
1. https://news.gallup.com/poll/1660/immigration.aspx
> I don't think it's fair or makes sense to single them out.
ICE has earned all of the scrutiny they get. ICE does not seem to care about the welfare of the people in its care [2]. It does not seem to care about US immigration law [3]. Or the rights of legal immigrants [4]. ICE employees say ICE prioritizes rounding up law abiding families over criminal investigations [5].
[2] https://theintercept.com/2018/04/11/immigration-detention-se...
[3] https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-11-15/asylum-off...
[4] https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/01/ice-is-out-of-co...
[5] https://www.texasobserver.org/ice-hsi-letter-kirstjen-nielse...
(~80%) appears to think "dealing with illegal immigration" should mean "provide a path to citizenship" [1]
Meanwhile, that exact same poll had 75% of respondents favoring "Hiring significantly more border patrol agents."