DHS official says ICE agents will not be at polling places in midterms

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A Department of Homeland Security official told state election administrators that federal immigration agents will not be stationed at polling places during November’s midterm elections, according to statements shared by multiple secretaries of state.

Heather Honey, deputy assistant secretary for election integrity, told the group of secretaries of state during a coordination call that immigration agents would not be present at polling locations, as reflected in a statement Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes shared after the meeting, and in similar accounts from other officials.

Fontes said Honey told the group, “any suggestion that ICE will be present at any polling location is simply not true,” according to the statement. A spokeswoman for Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read also said Honey made the pledge, and Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, a Republican, posted on X that the promise came from “DHS,” the Associated Press reported.

The call, according to the Associated Press report, brought together Honey and representatives of the FBI, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the Postal Service and other federal agencies to discuss coordination for the midterms. The report said the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

Election officials have pushed the federal government to clarify how it will handle election-related enforcement during voting season, in part because states run elections under the U.S. Constitution rather than the federal government, and most states assign election oversight powers to their elected secretaries of state.

The Associated Press report said participants asked Honey questions about Trump administration cuts to election security funding, the administration’s campaign to root out noncitizen voting, and fears about federal law enforcement officers appearing at polling places in the fall. It also said Honey’s participation on the call was notable to Democratic officials in the context of the broader political environment.

The report described the Trump administration’s approach to election-related concerns as a growing point of tension for election officials. It said the Justice Department has filed lawsuits seeking detailed voter data without explaining why it wants the information, and that Trump has continued renewing false claims about the 2020 election and urged investigations into possible fraud.

The report also referenced the FBI raid of an election office in Fulton County, Georgia, which the Associated Press said Democrats and public interest lawyers had been watching as part of their planning for the midterms. It further said Democrats pointed to Trump’s efforts around his 2020 loss and the people he has brought into his administration.

While the White House has dismissed fears about election disruption, the Associated Press report said White House officials have pointed to no disruption during the prior year’s election, when Democrats performed well. It said during a congressional hearing earlier that month, the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection answered “No, sir” when asked whether they were involved in efforts to guard voting precincts.