DHS Official Says ICE Won’t Be At The Polls | EUROtoday

Department of Homeland Security official Heather Honey advised a name of state election officers that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is not going to present up on the polls throughout the 2026 midterm elections and anybody who says they are going to is spreading disinformation, in keeping with two officers who have been on the decision.

Honey, an election denier who backed President Donald Trump’s try and steal the 2020 election and has since been appointed to work on election safety, was representing DHS on a Wednesday name organized by 5 govt department businesses concerned in defending and monitoring elections. She made the assertion in response to a query in regards to the presence of ICE on the polls as an intimidating issue, per Arizona’s Democratic Secretary of State Adrien Fontes.

“She came out with a very strong statement and she acknowledged, flat out, that anybody saying that ICE would be at the polling places was spreading disinformation,” Fontes advised HuffPost.

Many Trump allies have both known as for ICE to point out up on the polls or said that there could be nothing improper with itelevating issues from advocates that ICE could be used to intimidate potential voters.

“You’re damn right we’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November,” former Trump advisor Steve Bannon stated on his podcast on Feb. 4.

But Fontes stated that he believed the selection of messenger undermined the message, citing Honey’s background as an activist who superior lies to overturn Arizona’s elections in 2020 and 2022.

“She’s the absolute wrong messenger to guarantee to us that ICE is not going to be at polling places,” Fontes stated. “When I heard it, I was kind of flabbergasted at first that she would come right out and be so strong with that statement. And then I realized it was her and so I knew I couldn’t believe it.”

DHS didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the topic.

Honey has beforehand made false assertions about DHS election coverage. On the same name with state election officers in 2025, Honey stated that DHS was not utilizing voter registration knowledge from states that complied with Trump’s govt order requiring them to share their full voter rolls, in keeping with Democracy Docket. This contradicted earlier statements from DHS.

Still others on the decision hope that it is a actual assertion of coverage from the company.

“I was encouraged by the pledge that ICE agents would not be in and around polling places,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, advised HuffPost. ”We assume that it is a pledge that every one Americans can rely on.”

While Honey stated that ICE wouldn’t seem on the polls, she and the Department of Justice consultant refused to affirm that the Constitution offers the states final management over operating their elections, absent laws from Congress, in keeping with Fontes. Trump has tried to say in any other case along with his govt orders to mandate voter identification and proof of citizenship, amongst different issues. These orders have all been halted in courts.

“That was really, really disturbing,” Fontes stated.

The remainder of the decision, which is generally held forward of elections, was routine as federal businesses shared the companies they’ll present and how you can coordinate with them to counter threats at polling places and examine civil rights violations.