What’s fueling fear about ICE at the polls in November? What have Trump officials said?

A fabricated scene of immigration agents prowling a voting site recently spread across social media, with comments split between people in favor of the idea and those who are disturbed by it. In the video, made with generative artificial intelligence, masked immigration officers hassle a voter wearing a Black Lives Matter t-shirt and yell “keep your head down” to another marking her ballot. 

TikTok and X users sharing the video said this is what President Donald Trump wants for the November midterm elections.

Trump administration officials said they have no plans to send agents to precincts en masse, but they haven’t ruled out the possibility of sending officers or agents to a voting site under specific scenarios. Federal law largely prohibits armed and civil law enforcement activity at polling places. 

Citing Trump administration officials’ comments, Democrats, voting rights groups and workers unions filed multiple lawsuits in September asking judges to rule that the administration can’t deploy agents or armed officers at the polls. 

Public polling shows that the public isn’t convinced it won’t happen.

A September University of California San Diego poll showed 40% of respondents, and even higher numbers of minorities, said they thought it very or somewhat likely that immigration officers will appear at the polls in their area. Republicans were less inclined to think that than Democrats.

Some election officials are training for the possibility, and so are activists who monitor ICE activity or voting rights. Democratic lawmakers have asked Trump administration officials about potential deployment plans and filed legislation to prevent troops or agents at the polls. 

The speculation is fueled by Trump’s efforts to find noncitizen voters, the summer Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest surge, and the president’s murky words.  

Trump did not dismiss the idea of sending the National Guard or ICE to polling locations when a reporter asked him in May.

“Well, you know what? I do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections,” Trump said.

When PolitiFact asked the White House about Trump’s current position, a spokesperson referred us to February comments by Karoline Leavitt, then Trump’s press secretary, who said she had not heard Trump consider sending ICE to the polls and called it a “silly hypothetical question.” She added, “I can’t guarantee that an ICE agent won’t be around a polling location in November.” 

Ordering ICE agents to the polls would face significant legal and practical challenges. Here’s a guide to the laws governing federal law enforcement at polling sites, the logistical hurdles for a hypothetical mass presence of ICE agents at poll sites, and what voters can do to avoid falling for hyper-realistic videos that could deter you from the polls. 

What the federal government can and can’t do at voting sites

Voters cast their ballots at a voting center on the UCLA campus, June 2, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP)

Speculation about whether Trump would send immigration agents to the polls spread in February after Steve Bannon, a first-term Trump adviser, said, “You’re damn right we are going to have ICE surround the polls come November.”

Journalists followed up by asking Trump administration officials if they had such a plan. Leavitt’s response about not guaranteeing an ICE agent would not be at a poll led to a round of headlines.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters in September that ICE won’t patrol polling places, echoing similar responses in his March confirmation hearing.

“The only reason why we would be at polling places is if there is a threat to that polling place or we’re serving a warrant on someone that we have been actively tracking down,” Mullin said. 

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine said in August, in response to a Democratic senator, that there are no plans to deploy the U.S. military or National Guard for the midterm election. 

The laws designed to prevent such activity date back to the Civil War.

There previously was an exception for “keeping peace at the polls,” but Congress removed it in 1909 out of fear that federal authorities could point to any kind of disturbance as a pretext to deploy troops. 

The federal statute references “any troops or armed men,” which applies to any federal civilian law enforcement agency, including ICE, said Jonathan Diaz, a Campaign Legal Center lawyer.

When federal activity is allowed by law, it is limited.

The Justice Department can send federal monitors to observe voting, a longstanding practice in Democratic and Republican administrations that stems from the 1965 Voting Rights Act. They are not law enforcement officers, and they don’t have access to ballots or voting machines.

Another factor driving the conversation: Immigration agents were at a few polling sites during the primaries.  

Agents gathered in a parking lot of a Simi Valley, California, voting site but did not enter the voting area. They approached a Syracuse, New York, poll worker at a voting site about an Instagram post she made months earlier. In Bexar County, Texas, witnesses said agents in a parking lot of a polling place didn’t appear to approach voters, and the sheriff told ICE to leave.

Election supervisors in Florida’s Broward and Palm Beach counties told PolitiFact that voters and civic groups have been asking about whether ICE could be at the polls. 

“All of our voters are U.S. citizens — there is no reason for ICE to be there,” Broward County Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott said. 

Wendy Sartory Link, the Palm Beach County supervisor, said the Department of Homeland Security told her this summer the agency had no plans to send ICE to the polls. “We aren’t expecting any issues,” she said.

Several states — California, Connecticut, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Virginia — passed laws this year prohibiting or limiting troops or agents at the polls, according to the Voting Rights Lab, which tracks state legislation. 

‘The math ain’t mathing’

Erin Ludlam places a ballot in a drop-off box for the Democratic primaries at Blair-Caldwell Library, June 30, 2026, in Denver. (AP)

If the Trump administration decided to send agents to voting sites, the number of ICE agents and voting sites would make it challenging to have a robust national presence.

Voting is diffuse, with almost 100,000 voting sites nationwide. (ICE employs 20,000 people.) Most states offer in-person early voting; some start nearly a month before Election Day. Several states also allow voters to drop off mail ballots at an election office or drop box.

In 2024, about 37% of voters cast ballots on Election Day.

“If the Department of Homeland Security attempted to station a lone ICE agent at every voting site, they’d cover about 25% of the country’s polling places,” Stephen Richer, a former Maricopa County election official, wrote in a co-bylined essay. 

“And that’s before a single agent is assigned any other duties to meet agency needs. As the kids say, ‘the math ain’t mathing.’”

Staying skeptical in the AI age

An election worker places a vote-by-mail ballot into a secure bin at the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections Office during the Florida primary election in Doral, Florida, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP)

Misinformation experts said it’s possible that AI-generated videos, with or without an AI label, could scare away voters from the polls.

“The speed at which people consume social media coupled with the proliferation of authentic news reports of ICE intimidation recently could lead to people believing these videos are authentic, rather than AI-generated hypothetical situations,” said Zelly Martin, University of Tampa assistant professor of communication.

With the ease of creating and consuming manipulated content, it’s important to keep some tips in mind before believing what you see:

• Cross reference with statements by local or state election officials. Local election officials may dispel rumors on their websites, including about noncitizen voting. Election websites share how to follow them on social media or contact them; some invite the public to report misinformation. New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver posted an explanation of the laws that ban ICE at the polls.
• Headlines, videos and images may lack the full story. Headlines and social media posts are designed to grab your attention. They may leave out a politician’s full statement or complete information on a news development. 
• Check for an AI label or watermark. Content could still be fabricated even if it doesn’t have a label. “Then close the app, and search reputable, mainstream media sources for the content,” Martin said. “If you can’t find it upon a regular search outside of social media, that doesn’t mean it’s not authentic news, but it should encourage hesitation and healthy skepticism at the very least.” PolitiFact has some tips about how to look for watermarks or generative AI.
• Pause before you share. “These posts and rumors are highly emotional, invoking our fundamental values, fears and sense of outrage — and so the temptation to quickly share them can also be strong,” said Peter Adams, a senior vice president at the News Literacy Project. “Be sure anything you pass along or repeat to others is actually true.”

RELATED: All of our fact-checks about the 2026 midterms

Senior Digital Research Analyst Jeff Cercone contributed to this article.