Amna Nawaz
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WATCH: ‘We have no plans’ to put ICE or CBP officers at polling places, Noem says
Posted
March 3, 2026
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March 3, 2026
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2:24Now PlayingSen. Chris Coons, D-Del., asked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to rule out the use of federal immigration forces stationed at polling places this November.
"There are no plans to have ICE officers at our polling locations,” Noem said in an oversight hearing held Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“I’m glad to hear that, but would you rule it out?” Coons pressed. “Would you say it will not happen?”
“Do you plan on illegal aliens voting in our elections, Senator?” Noem replied. She added that “there should be no need to unless you plan on” undocumented immigrants voting.
Coons later asked if she would “issue a directive that ICE and CBP should be nowhere near polling places.”
The secretary repeated that they had “no plans” to have officers at polling locations, and said that her agency was giving states “tools and mitigation efforts” to maintain election integrity and trust.
Noem’s agency has been roiled by turmoil and public outcry in recent days. The shooting of two U.S. citizens by federal officers in Minneapolis prompted weeks of protests in the Twin Cities area. Trump officials, including Noem, accused the victims – Renee Good and Alex Pretti – of committing acts of “domestic terrorism.”
But bystander videos challenged the administration’s narrative of the high-profile shooting deaths, and documented DHS deploying other aggressive tactics. Greater scrutiny by Democrats into the ways the Trump administration has been carrying out his mass deportation agenda led to a lapse in the agency’s funding and partial government shutdown.
Congressional lawmakers have yet to reach a deal to fund the department, though there are areas of bipartisan agreement, such as a body camera requirement for immigration enforcement agents.
Noem will also field questions Wednesday from the House Judiciary Committee.
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