DHS Secretary Mullin says ICE agents could make arrests at polling places
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could enter polling places to make arrests during the November 2026 election.
What happened
Speaking to reporters in New York on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, Mullin said "ICE isn't there to patrol the polling places. We're there to enforce specific threats," but said agents could nevertheless enter voting locations in certain circumstances. He described those circumstances: "The only reason why we would be at polling places is if there is a threat to that polling place or we're serving a warrant on someone that we have been actively tracking down," adding, "If we're serving a warrant we will be where we need to be." Asked whether ICE officers would enter polling places, Mullin said they would if they had warrants. Mullin had previously told senators during his confirmation hearing that agents could be deployed for a "specific threat." DHS said ICE "is not planning operations targeting polling locations" and that the agency conducts "intelligence-driven targeted enforcement," adding that if "an active public safety threat endangered a polling location, they may be arrested as a result of that targeted enforcement action."
Why it matters
The Justice Department's own longstanding election-crimes guidance reads the federal prohibition to bar even FBI agents from investigating inside polling places on Election Day and deputy U.S. marshals from being stationed at open polls because they are armed on duty, and the statute's only exception is narrow. A sitting cabinet secretary stating that ICE agents would enter polling places to execute warrants asserts a federal armed presence at voting sites that the ordinary warrant function does not obviously fit within, which bears directly on what voters encounter when they go to vote.
Sources
nbcnews.com, theguardian.com, democracydocket.com, dhs.gov, justice.gov