The Trump administration is once again hinting that armed federal immigration agents could show up at polling places this November.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Tuesday that ICE agents could enter a polling location to arrest someone under “certain circumstances.”
However, Mullin insisted that ICE would not be sent to patrol all polling places.
“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,” Mullin told reporters in New York. “If we’re serving a warrant we will be where we need to be.”
That distinction may not do much to ease concerns about armed federal agents appearing at voting locations during the midterm elections.
Mullin’s comments are among the clearest statements yet from the administration about “circumstances” in which ICE agents could enter an operating polling place.
The issue is especially sensitive because federal law places significant restrictions on armed federal personnel at election sites.
Under 18 U.S.C. § 592, a federal official who orders, brings or keeps “troops or armed men” at a location where a general or special election is taking place can face up to five years in prison and disqualification from federal office. The law includes a narrow exception when force is necessary to “repel armed enemies of the United States.”
The Justice Department’s longstanding election-crimes guidance has also treated polling places as off-limits for routine federal law enforcement activity.
The guidance has said FBI agents should not conduct investigations inside polling places on Election Day and that deputy U.S. marshals should not be stationed at open polls because they are armed while on duty.
That creates an obvious question about Mullin’s comments.
What happens when federal agents aren’t responding to an immediate threat at a polling place, but instead want to enter the location to arrest someone they have been pursuing?
Democratic senators have already warned the administration about that possibility.
In July, a dozen senators told Mullin, then-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that deploying armed federal agents to polling places would violate federal law.
“Americans should never have to wonder whether the federal government intends to police the ballot box with armed agents,” they wrote.
Blanche has also repeatedly declined to categorically rule out federal agents being sent to polling places.
Before becoming acting attorney general, Blanche questioned at the Conservative Political Action Conference why there would be an objection to sending ICE officers to polling places, noting that noncitizens cannot legally vote.
Later, while serving as acting attorney general, Blanche again dismissed concerns about the possibility of ICE or Border Patrol agents appearing at polling locations.
“I am not sure of the uproar of the risk of having a Border Patrol or an ICE agent at a polling location,” Blanche said. “And so what’s the risk?”
During his July confirmation hearing, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) asked Blanche whether he understood why eligible voters might feel intimidated by armed federal agents at polling places.
“I’m not aware of that concern,” Blanche responded, while repeatedly saying he would “follow the law.”
The debate comes as some Republican candidates have also embraced the idea of increased law enforcement presence around polling places.
Maine GOP gubernatorial nominee Bobby Charles said last month that he planned to ask Trump border czar Tom Homan to send ICE agents and U.S. marshals to polling places.
In Michigan, Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers said his campaign wanted retired or off-duty police officers to serve as poll watchers, joking that voters might see a badge when an officer opened his jacket.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, pushed back forcefully against the idea.
“The Constitution and federal law prohibit ICE agents from being stationed at polling places,” Bellows told Democracy Docket. “As Secretary of State and Maine’s Chief Elections Official, we’re not going to stand for this lawless and reckless suggestion.”
For its part, DHS says there is no plan for ICE to target polling locations.
“ICE is not planning operations targeting polling locations,” the department said in a statement to Democracy Docket, adding that the agency conducts “intelligence-driven targeted enforcement.”
The department said that if an “active public safety threat endangered a polling location,” someone could be arrested as part of that targeted enforcement.
But Mullin’s comments go beyond the question of responding to an emergency.
He specifically said ICE could be at a polling place to serve a warrant for someone agents had been tracking.
And with the 2026 midterms approaching, that leaves voters with a question the administration has so far been unwilling to answer cleanly:
Will armed federal agents be kept away from polling places, or could voters encounter them while trying to cast their ballots?
