Mullin names the conditions under which ICE agents would enter polling places
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would enter polling places where there is a threat to the site or a warrant to serve, and added that reports of specific undocumented immigrants at a location could be a reason for ICE to deploy.
What happened
Speaking to reporters in New York City, Mullin said “ICE isn’t there to patrol the polling places. We’re there to enforce specific threats,” and “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.” He also said reports of specific undocumented immigrants at a location could be a reason for ICE to deploy. POLITICO reported the comments offer some of the most specificity DHS has provided to date about the circumstances in which immigration agents would approach a polling site, and that Mullin was pressed on the same question at his confirmation hearing in March, where he said the “only reason why my officers would be there is if there was a specific threat for them to be there, not for intimidation.” Asked for clarity, DHS said in a statement that “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.”
Why it matters
Placing federal immigration agents at polling places, even conditionally, changes what a voter has to weigh before showing up. What is new is not the idea but the source: the secretary himself named the operational triggers, in what POLITICO reports is some of the most specificity DHS has offered to date, and he did so while immigration agents are already reviewing states’ voter rolls.