White House's chilling warning about midterm elections: 'Can't guarantee an ICE agent won't be around polling locations'
Source: The Independent
White House’s chilling warning about midterm elections: ‘Can’t guarantee an ICE agent won’t be around polling locations’
Threat of stationing immigration agents around voting locations has become a concern as it can be a deterrent to legal residents of color who are concerned they may be harassed by federal agents
Andrew Feinberg in Washington, D.C.
Thursday 05 February 2026 21:24 GMT
The White House refused to rule out following through on the threat of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents being sent out to “surround the polls” when voters cast ballots in this November’s midterm elections as a way of depressing Democratic turnout and boosting chances of Republican victories in the House of Representatives and Senate.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday said she could offer “no guarantee” that ICE personnel would not be stationed at polling sites when Americans are in the process of choosing whether to extend the Republican stranglehold on power at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
She had been asked about former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s recent call for Trump to deploy ICE around election sites on his War Room podcast on Tuesday, just days after Trump himself called for a Republican “takeover” of vote-counting in Democratic-led states and municipalities.
Bannon had endorsed Trump’s suggestion that his party seize control of voting machinery and counting, telling listeners: “You’re damn right we’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November.”
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Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/white-house-midterms-2026-warning-ice-b2914933.html
Alternate link: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/white-house-chilling-warning-midterm-202152722.html
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There is a federal statute that is applicable which will be used by the Democratic national and state parties.
Link to tweet
Whoever, being an officer of the Army or Navy, OR OTHER PERSON IN THE CIVIL, military, or naval service of the United States, orders, brings, keeps, or has under his authority or control any troops or armed men at any place where a general or special election is held, unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States, SHALL BE FINED UNDER THIS TITLE OR IMPRISONED NOT MORE THAN FIVE YEARS, OR BOTH; and be disqualified from holding any office of honor, profit, or trust under the United States.
This federal statute has been interpreted by legal analyst as including federal civil servants and armed federal law enforcement agents, such as those from @ICEgov or @DHSgov
Link to tweet
18 U.S. Code § 592 makes it a crime punishable by 5 years in prison to deploy federal troops to polling places...
— (@rlyon.bsky.social) 2026-02-06T12:03:14.782Z
This law would apply to ICE and DHS officers if they tried to block access to polling places. This law was discussed on MS NOW a couple of times. Basically one could seek an injunction to block the military, ICE or DHS from interfering with polling places