Trump has no 'formal plans' to deploy ICE at polling sites, White House says

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

February 5, 2026 4:47 PM EST Updated 11 hours ago


WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has not discussed "formal plans" to deploy U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to polling sites at November's midterm elections, the White House said on Thursday, while declining to rule out their presence near voting locations. Trump said on Monday that Republicans should "nationalize" and "take over" voting in at least 15 unspecified locations, repeating his false claims that U.S. elections are plagued by widespread fraud.

His remarks were echoed by Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser and influential right-wing commentator, who repeated false claims that people living in the U.S. illegally vote in large numbers and said on his War Room podcast on Tuesday, "You're damn right we're gonna have ICE surround the polls come November."

Asked about Bannon's comments, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: "I can't guarantee that an ICE agent won't be around a polling location in November … but what I can tell you is I haven't heard the president discuss any formal plans to put ICE outside of polling locations."

Federal law prohibits the president from deploying military troops at any location holding a general or special election, and several states criminalize carrying firearms at or near polling places. Immigration enforcement, in particular, has caused both U.S. citizens and legal residents to stay home out of fear of detention or racial profiling. Democrats have raised concerns in recent months that Trump could deploy troops at polling locations to intimidate voters and interfere with the November elections that will determine control of Congress.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-has-no-formal-plans-deploy-ice-polling-sites-white-house-says-2026-02-05/

---

Trump has no 'formal plans' to deploy ICE at polling sites

Meaning they WILL show up to intimidate and local police should arrest them for trespassing,

[0rganism]

1. Translated: F47's crew has lots of plans which won't be "formalized" until mid-late October, when they take place

"I haven't heard the president discuss any formal plans to put ICE outside of polling locations."
^^^^^^
Yeah sure, okay ma'am, so how about all those informal plans, eh? Incredibly clumsy attempt at sweeping this issue under the proverbial rug; 2/10. Everyone who cares has figured it out by now anyway, so you can stop pretending, Karoline.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. I am hoping the courts will block that well before.

[0rganism]

13. I am hoping you're correct, but seems likely the regime will just do it anyway

because...
1. there are never consequences for Donald J. Trump
2. the oligarchs have way too much sunk cost to let their fascist makeover stall out for 2 years

[orangecrush]

3. Bullshit

[democrank]

4. I believe every word coming from the White House.

One good thing about President Donald J. Trump….he never, ever lies.

[mwmisses4289]

6. 🤣

[mwmisses4289]

5. Getting pushback, says something to hopefully pacify enough

people who will fall for the bs and deride anyone who says he will do it anyway, then he does it anyway and the ones who fell for it are shocked.

[durablend]

11. And then says to the victims (the people harassed)

"WELL IF YOU'D COMPLIED IN THE FIRST PLACE THIS NEVER WOULD HAVE BEEN NEEDED"

[wolfie001]

7. No one should believe a word out of the fat orange imbecile's fascist regime

[Scrivener7]

8. He had no formal plans to institute Project 2025 either.

Only sloppy and informal ones.

[liberalgunwilltravel]

9. Tranlated:

Trump plans to deploy ICE at all Blue-leaning polling stations.

[durablend]

10. And he's going to "make the call" to all his voter goons as deputies

[AverageOldGuy]

12. TRANSLATION:

"We are in the process of hiring another 50,000 ICE thugs to ensure we have enough to block every polling place in the country."

[bluestarone]

14. Well the chances of ICE being around just went up by

80%. We'll see i guess!!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

15. Deploying the military, ICE or DHS at polling places is illegal

There is a federal statute that is applicable which will be used by the Democratic national and state parties.

Link to tweet

18 U.S. Code § 592:
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