Democrats Warn DHS Not to Deploy Federal Agents to Polling Places

Democrats in the United States Senate are warning that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should not deploy federal immigration agents to polling places or use federal resources to influence state election administration.

In a letter issued yesterday to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, the lawmakers argue Mullin has been “unwilling” to rule out sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to polling places this November.

“Your actions as Secretary are intentionally undermining Americans’ trust in the 2026 midterm elections and appear to purposefully disenfranchise eligible voters,” the lawmakers wrote.

The letter is in direct response to statements Mullin made earlier this month that DHS could send ICE agents to polling places for election security reasons. Mullin said officers would be deployed only if a threat to a polling location warranted them to be there.

In March, President Donald Trump issued an executive order allowing DHS to compile and transmit state-specific lists of confirmed U.S. citizens to state election officials using federal citizenship, Social Security and SAVE program data.

“Since then, DHS has repeatedly pressured states to share their voter rolls and run them through the modified SAVE program, despite legal concerns and known accuracy issues,” the senators wrote.

In July, Mullin claimed this database helped identify 250,000 noncitizens as nonregistered voters in four states, to which the senators said he had “no evidence” of.

The Democrats also pointed to inconsistencies in Mullin’s past claims, citing his claim of 16,000 noncitizens registered to vote in Nevada that DHS officials revised to 185. The senators said a subsequent review by Nevada officials found all 185 individuals were U.S. citizens.

Mullin has also stated that, if states do not comply with DHS requests for voter information, DHS would withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding.

“Your unsubstantiated allegations of noncitizen voter fraud, public recitation of unreliable data, and unwarranted conditioning of continued grant funding for state election security measures on compliance with politically motivated requests for voter data appear to be calculated efforts to undermine confidence in our elections and risks wrongly disenfranchising voters,” the senators wrote.

The senators now demand Mullin provide evidence supporting his claims about noncitizen voters, rescind new election-related conditions on FEMA grants and release withheld funding to states.

“We are deeply troubled by the actions that you, DHS, and the Trump Administration have taken,” the lawmakers wrote.