State election officials across the United States are making preparations for the possibility of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents appearing at polling places during the upcoming elections, following comments from the Trump administration.
Officials from states including Maine, New Mexico, Michigan, Oregon and Colorado have been working with local election authorities and state attorneys general on how to respond to any federal immigration activity that could interfere with voting or ballot drop-off operations.
President Donald Trump said in May that he would “do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections” when asked about the possibility of ICE agents being deployed at polling stations.
Earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin also said ICE agents could be present at polling locations if they were carrying out an immigration warrant.
New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said election authorities had to prepare for the possibility.
“We would be engaging in malpractice if we didn’t prepare for the concern [about ICE agents showing up at polls] and we didn’t address it,” she told Axios.
Michigan Deputy Secretary of State Aghogho Edevbie said ICE had no role at polling locations and warned that its presence could be viewed as voter intimidation.
“ICE doesn’t have a role here,” Edevbie said. “Certainly any ICE activity near a polling location can be considered voter intimidation, and we would take steps to counter that immediately.”
Toulouse Oliver said New Mexico was training local election officials on how to deal with unauthorised individuals at voting locations.
Under the planned procedure, officials would first ask federal agents or other unauthorised individuals to leave the voting area. If they refused, election officials could contact the county sheriff before considering legal action.
“An ICE agent is the same as any other unauthorized individual at a polling location, and the same protocols should be followed,” she said.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said officials in her state were preparing along similar lines.
“If the Trump administration were to go down that path, the individuals involved would be committing crimes,” Bellows said.
She added, “The coordination between secretaries of state, clerks, attorneys general, and partners at every level is very close.”
Election officials said preparations for possible disruptions were part of their broader efforts to protect voting during election periods.
Bellows said she had previously dealt with several cases of “swatting” at polling locations, where people make false emergency calls in an attempt to disrupt voting.
In Oregon, Secretary of State Tobias Read compared preparations for possible ICE activity with the measures officials take when dealing with major emergencies.
“Our system has to deal with all kinds of disasters, not just manufactured ones like the one from the White House right now,” Read said.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold also has experience dealing with potential voter intimidation. In 2020, two observers carrying weapons openly filmed people at polling stations. They eventually left after local officials intervened and were not charged.
Denver, which has been a major focus of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, is also involved in legal action seeking to prevent ICE agents from appearing at polling places.
Mullin’s recent clarification that ICE agents would only be at polling stations when carrying out targeted arrests has not fully eased concerns among some election officials.
Read referenced the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renée Good while discussing concerns about ICE’s conduct and the appropriateness of its actions.
The Department of Homeland Security, however, said ICE was not planning operations aimed at polling locations.
“America’s elections are NOT a sanctuary from federal criminal law, and [the Department of Homeland Security] will not pretend otherwise because a secretary of state held a training,” a DHS spokesperson told Axios.
The spokesperson added, “ICE is not planning operations targeting polling locations. ICE conducts intelligence-driven targeted enforcement, and if an active public safety threat endangered a polling location, they may be arrested as a result of that targeted enforcement action.”
DHS previously played a more extensive role in protecting elections from physical and digital threats through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
However, the Trump administration has made significant cuts to the agency, with some regional offices that previously handled election-security responsibilities now left empty.
