Rights Groups Warn ICE Presence Could Chill Turnout and Intimidate Voters in 2026 Midterms

In two places during this year's midterm primaries, in San Antonio, Texas, and in Ventura County, California, ICE agents were reported to be carrying out routine operations near polling stations. In both cases they left after local police asked them to. Those episodes are now the reference point for rights groups worried about what could happen on November 3.

The concern grows out of the scale of the agency and the campaign it leads. Since Donald Trump returned to office, ICE, a Department of Homeland Security agency founded in 2003, has spearheaded his effort to find and deport undocumented immigrants. It had 22,000 officers and agents as of January, a 120 percent increase in staffing, and recent spending packages have made it the best-funded federal law enforcement agency in the country. It has also drawn scrutiny for aggressive tactics and expedited hiring. Immigration agents have been responsible for at least 25 shootings since the start of Trump's second term, six of them fatal, and at least 60 people have died in ICE custody since January 2025.

Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union have said the administration could use ICE to intimidate voters, and that the mere possibility of encountering agents could keep some people home. A September poll by the University of California, San Diego found that 40 percent of respondents expected ICE agents to be near polling stations on election day.

The law offers some protection. A federal statute dating to 1865 makes it illegal for anyone in the civil, military or naval service of the United States to order or bring troops or armed men to election sites. It carries an exception for force needed to keep the peace at the polls or to repel armed enemies of the United States. Other federal laws bar military interference in elections and efforts to intimidate voters, and some states have their own restrictions on armed agents.

Advocacy groups say ICE has already been drawn into election matters. Its Homeland Security Investigations arm has reportedly been told to prioritise cases of non-citizen voting, which is illegal, since only citizens may vote in federal elections. Starting in August, DHS sent HSI agents on field investigations in at least nine states to examine voter eligibility. Some reportedly went door to door asking residents whether they were citizens and whether they planned to vote. This week, a federal judge ordered DHS to pause the investigations, citing the risk that a US citizen could be wrongly swept up and subjected to intimidation, and noting a high likelihood of error in how agents were identifying alleged non-citizens. Experts say very few non-citizens vote, despite Trump's portrayal of the problem as widespread and his false claims of pervasive fraud.

Administration officials have declined to rule out an ICE role. Asked in May whether he would send the National Guard or ICE to voting locations, Trump did not answer directly, saying he would do anything necessary to ensure honest elections. In September, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said ICE would not patrol polling stations, but that agents would be there if a polling place faced a threat or if they were serving a warrant on someone they had been actively tracking. Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaking in March at a conservative conference, asked why there was any objection to sending ICE to polling stations, adding that illegal immigrants cannot vote.

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday urged the administration to order ICE away from polling stations and other election sites. Executive director Philippe Bolopion said ICE abuses have already hurt US citizens who were stopped, beaten, detained, deported and even killed, and that voters should not fear an ICE dragnet on their way to vote. Amnesty International made a similar appeal on October 16, calling for voting without intimidation by armed forces or fear of harm.

What to watch before November 3 is whether the administration commits publicly to keeping ICE away from polls, and how the court proceeds with the paused HSI investigations.