DHS: No plans for ICE to be at polls for midterm elections

Sept. 1, 2026, 4:18 PM EDT

ICE officers have not received guidance telling them they need to do anything in addition to their regular duties on the day of November’s midterm elections, a senior DHS official told NBC News.

At a press conference on Tuesday in New York, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that ICE officers will only be at polling places if “there is a threat to that polling place” or if officers are serving a warrant on someone “that we have been actively tracking down.”

“ICE isn’t there to patrol the polling places,” Mullin said.

Asked if ICE officers would enter polling places, Mullin said they would do so if they had a warrant.

“If we’re serving a warrant, we will be where we need to be,” Mullin said.

President Donald Trump as well as Mullin have claimed without offering any evidence that there are over 250,000 noncitizens on voter rolls across several states. Mullin recently threatened state election officials with possible prison time if they didn’t comply with the administration’s methods to determine if noncitizens were on their voter rolls. Several state officials have pushed back on sharing private state voter roll data that contains personal information, such as social security numbers.

Sept. 1, 2026, 4:18 PM EDT

By Julia Ainsley and Laura Strickler

ICE officers have not received guidance telling them they need to do anything in addition to their regular duties on the day of November’s midterm elections, a senior DHS official told NBC News.

At a press conference on Tuesday in New York, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that ICE officers will only be at polling places if “there is a threat to that polling place” or if officers are serving a warrant on someone “that we have been actively tracking down.”

“ICE isn’t there to patrol the polling places,” Mullin said.

Asked if ICE officers would enter polling places, Mullin said they would do so if they had a warrant.

“If we’re serving a warrant, we will be where we need to be,” Mullin said.

President Donald Trump as well as Mullin have claimed without offering any evidence that there are over 250,000 noncitizens on voter rolls across several states. Mullin recently threatened state election officials with possible prison time if they didn’t comply with the administration’s methods to determine if noncitizens were on their voter rolls. Several state officials have pushed back on sharing private state voter roll data that contains personal information, such as social security numbers.