The White House Thursday refused to rule out the presence of immigration enforcement at voting locations this November, a response that follows extremist rhetoric about placing federal forces at the polls.
Asked directly about far-right activist Steve Bannon’s claim that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would “surround the polls,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the question while conceding the Trump administration could not promise such a thing would not happen.
“That’s not something I’ve ever heard the president consider,” Leavitt said. “I can’t guarantee that an ICE agent won’t be around a polling location in November.”
Leavitt went on to characterize the question as unreasonable even as she declined to draw a bright line protecting polling places from federal law enforcement.
“That’s frankly a very silly hypothetical question,” she said. “But what I can tell you is I haven’t heard the president discuss any formal plans to put ICE outside of polling locations. It’s a disingenuous question.”
For decades, federal and state law has treated polling places as sensitive spaces where intimidation — whether explicit or implied — is prohibited because it undermines the right to vote freely. The federal government has historically recognized polling places as off-limits for immigration enforcement precisely to avoid deterring lawful voters.
Leavitt’s comments also come against the backdrop of increasingly explicit calls from Trump-aligned figures to use the machinery of the federal government to police elections.
Earlier this week, Bannon said on his War Room podcast that immigration agents should be deployed at polling places in November, echoing long-debunked conspiracy theories that undocumented immigrants are voting in U.S. elections.
There is no evidence to support those claims.
While Leavitt insisted she was unaware of “formal plans” to put ICE near voting locations, her refusal to categorically reject the idea outright marked a dangerous openness to intimidate lawful voters using federal force.
