Trump’s pick for DHS chief won’t rule out ICE at polls

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) during his confirmation hearing Wednesday to be the next head of the Department of Homeland Security made clear that he’d be willing to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the polls for a “specific threat.”

Mullin rejected concerns about voter intimidation from ICE agents at polling places, and defended the agency’s role in ongoing election investigations.

“The only reason why my officers would be there is if there was a specific threat for them to be there, not for intimidation,” Mullin said, when asked by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) about whether the administration would send ICE agents to patrol polling places.

“I can’t sit here and guarantee hypothetically what threat might be there or not,” Mullin added. 

Questioned later by Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Mullin suggested no one should be worried about the issue.

“I don’t understand what the concern is about enforcement of immigration at polling places anyways because honestly if you’re not a citizen you shouldn’t be voting anyways so technically there shouldn’t be illegals at the polling spot,” Mullin said.

Kim replied that it’s not only undocumented citizens who may worry about threats or intimidation from the federal government. 

Kim, the first Korean American to serve as a U.S. senator, brought concerns from his New Jersey constituents about the presence of federal agents present at schools, churches, hospitals and polling places.

“There is a chilling effect that is happening that is wider,” Kim said. “I had to give my father-in-law specific instructions in case he was stopped upon re-entry back into the United States.”

In November 2025, 50% of legal immigrants reported living in fear of being arrested or deported.

This isn’t the first time the federal government has refused to rule out the possibility of ICE presence at the polls. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared a similar sentiment in February, saying she “can’t guarantee” ICE around polls.

Under federal and state law, federal agents are barred from polling places in line with the democratic right to vote freely – including freedom from intimidation. 

Despite his dismissal for concerns of ICE at polls – that noncitizens wouldn’t be there anyway – Mullin touted his support for the SAVE America Act to prove citizenship for voting.

“I don’t think it’s too much to ask to prove you’re a citizen of the United States,” Mullin said.

But claims of widespread voting by noncitizens have been debunked consistently. Instead, the SAVE Act, which reached the Senate floor for debate yesterday, threatens to disenfranchise millions of American citizens – including more than a third of Republicans who voted by mail in five states during the 2024 presidential election while President Donald Trump pushes for an amendment that would ban mail-in voting.

Senators also pressed Mullin, who refused to certify Joe Biden after he won the 2020 presidential election, on ongoing DHS election investigations.

“We know that President Joe Biden was sworn into office,” Mullin responded, giving the standard GOP answer.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) wanted to know if Mullin would continue ICE’s probe into elections in Gallego’s home state. 

The investigative arm of ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, is leading Trump’s latest effort to revisit his lost election.

Mullin did not indicate a change in course.

“There’s an opportunity to look at 2020 and make sure that anything that went wrong can be fixed,” Mullin said.