‘A pretext to rig the election’: Democrats scramble to block ICE crackdowns near polling sites

Politico.com ^ | 01/30/2026 10:01 AM EST | Samuel Benson

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Election officials are preparing for the possibility of immigration enforcement activity at or near polling sites in November.

Immigration enforcement is sowing chaos in Minneapolis and across the country. Democrats, elections officials and civil rights groups fear it could interfere with this November’s elections — and are scrambling for a response.

They’re warning that the White House’s deployments of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents could act as a voter suppression tool should armed officers conduct raids at or near polling locations, scaring citizens into staying home.

“You have to see what’s happening: Trump is trying to create a pretext to rig the election,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “It stands to reason that this private police [force] that he’s building is, in part, to be used to try to suppress turnout in the election.”

Senate Democrats considered a requirement banning ICE agents from polling sites as part of their demands in negotiating the Homeland Security funding bill, according to Murphy and Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.). But that policy was not included in Senate Democratic appropriators’ final list of demands to avoid a partial government shutdown, leaving voting rights advocates and Democratic state election officials on edge about what’s to come.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson called fears of voter suppression “Democrat conspiracies” with “no basis in reality.”

“President Trump cares deeply about the integrity of our elections — and so do the millions of Americans who sent him back to office based on his pledge to secure our elections,” Jackson said in a statement. “These Democrat conspiracies have no basis in reality and their claims shouldn’t be amplified uncritically by the mainstream media. ICE is focused on removing criminal illegal aliens from [the] country, who should be nowhere near any polling places because it would be a crime for them to...”

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: aliens; cheating; democratcorruption; democratfraud; electionfraud; ice; illegalvoting; rigging; tampering

[E. Pluribus Unum]

...White House’s deployments of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents could act as a voter suppression tool should armed officers conduct raids at or near polling locations, scaring citizens into staying home.

You can't make this stuff up. Nobody would believe you.

[escapefromboston]

Just park a van with the words “ICE” on it near the polling location.

[SMARTY]

THAT’S in your face

[LuxAerterna]

100% projection. They’re accusing Trump of doing what they are trying to do.

[ViLaLuz]

So they’re Admitting that illegals vote.

[Tench_Coxe]

They just indicted themselves.

[Sarah Barracuda]

What are they afraid of I thought illegals don’t vote in elections 😂😂

[AZJeep]

Maybe scaring Illegal aliens from voting?

[SteelPSUGOP]

Citizens have zero to fear.

My legal immigrant daughter in law always carries papers.

They want the bodies here to steal elections and rig the census. There is zero compassion involved.......these people are tools, like slaves

[Texas Eagle]

Illegals don’t go to the polls to vote. DemonicRAT operatives fill out their ballots and mail them in.

[No name given]

Apparently so.

[No name given]

Now lock them up.

[Jeff Vader]

I did too as well, until I got naturalized. It states right there on the green card that you must carry it with you at all times

[E. Pluribus Unum]

That was my thought. Their purpose is to have motor voter ballots to harvest.

[Mr. N. Wolfe]

“Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents could act as a voter suppression tool should armed officers conduct raids at or near polling locations, scaring citizens into staying home.”

Another benefit (for Democrats) of going to 100 percent mail-in voting with no I.D. requirement.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Polls without ICE agents on hand should not be allowed to open.

[gibsonguy]

Remember when the black panthers were allowed to stand at polling places for Obongo? I sure do.

[ProgressingAmerica]

This is a thought process that progressives engage in:

It is NOT a rigged election to include millions of illegal aliens who shouldn’t be here.

It IS a rigged election where illegal aliens are no longer a quantity in the vote count.

In the same way:

It is NOT a rigged census to include millions of illegal aliens who shouldn’t be here.

It IS a rigged census where illegal aliens are no longer a quantity in the census count.

The more illegals there are, the more correct the vote is and the more correct the census is. - for progressives.

[Zathras]

Polutico just got the memo from Big Mike.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Remember when the black panthers were allowed to stand at polling places for Obongo? I sure do.