Mullin Says DHS May Deploy to Polling Sites for Specific Threats

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Tuesday said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents could show up at polling places, but only for limited purposes.

“ICE isn’t there to patrol the polling places. We’re there to enforce specific threats,” Mullin said at a New York City news conference on Sept. 1.

“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.”

He added, “ICE’s job is immigration, customs enforcement. … If we’re serving a warrant, we will be where we need to be.”

Multiple Democratic officials and advocate groups have said ICE’s presence at polling places would violate federal law, responding to previous comments from Mullin and President Donald Trump.

In April, Connecticut’s Democrat-led House of Representatives passed a measure that would prohibit ICE from being at polling sites. Later, U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) introduced a bill in June that would prevent the government from sending troops or federal officers to polling sites.

The Brennan Center for Justice, meanwhile, wrote in March that “sending ICE or any other armed federal agents to the polls is illegal because federal law bans federal officers from interfering in elections.”

“Any kind of voter intimidation, including by federal agents, is illegal under both federal and state law regardless of where it happens,” the liberal law and policy group wrote.

In May, Trump was asked about whether ICE or the National Guard should be sent to the polls. “I would do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections,” he said in response.

In March, Mullin made comments similar to those on Tuesday regarding polling places. “The only reason why my officers would be there is if there was a specific threat for them to be there, not for intimidation,” he said during his Senate confirmation hearing. “There will be a reason for us to be there, and it’ll be known why we’re there.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to an Epoch Times request for comment on Mullin’s remarks.

Separately, in response to a Sept. 1 request for comment about reports of a voter-related investigation launched by DHS this week, the agency sent an emailed statement to The Epoch Times that said the federal government “is laser focused on prosecuting and removing aliens who vote and preventing the dilution of the votes of U.S. citizens.”

“Our message to aliens who vote in American elections is clear: we will find you, arrest you, and you will face the consequences—including criminal charges and deportation,” a DHS spokesperson said in the statement.

Mullin was speaking in New York City to announce results of an ICE operation from July 27 to Aug. 29 that resulted in the arrests of 2,197 illegal immigrants across the state of New York.