Deputy AG Backs Sending ICE Officers To Polling Stations: 'Why Is There An Objection?'

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said he backs sending ICE officers to polling station, claiming it would support "election integrity."

Speaking during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Blanche asked "why is there an objection to sending ICE to polling stations?"

"Illegals can't vote. It doesn't make any sense," he added. His interviewer said "they can vote" but "they shouldn't," to which Blanche agreed.

Addressing the audience, he said: "You all probably had to show your ID five times since you came into this place. It baffles me. And you're right, it's not completely my purview, except that we're charging and indicting illegals who voted in any election fraud case that we can. We've charged 20 times more than was charged under Biden in one year, and we're going to keep on doing that."

Others within the conservative movement are advocating for agents to be sent to the polls. Former White House advisor Steve Bannon is among the most vocal proponents, saying the deployment of agents to airports to replace TSA agents during the ongoing funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security could be used as a "test run" to "perfect" its "involvement in the 2026 midterms."

Bannon made the remarks during his "War Rooms" podcast. "We can use this, ICE helping at airports, as a test run, a test case, to really perfect ICE's involvement in the 2026 midterms," he said, framing it as a question to his interviewee, Mike Davis, Founder and President of Article III Project.

Bannon had already sparked controversy after saying earlier this year that ICE "will surround the polls" in the midterm elections. "You can whine and cry and throw your toys out all you want but We'll never again allow an election to be stolen," Bannon said in February.

Those remarks came after President Donald Trump said Republicans should "nationalize" elections and take over the voting process from states in some places.

"The Republicans should say, 'We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least — many, 15 places.' The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting," Trump said during an appearance in former Deputy FBI Dan Bongino's podcast.

Asked about Bannon's comments from February, then White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she could offer "no guarantee," calling the question "a very silly hypothetical" and adding she had not heard the president discuss "any formal plans."

However, a senior Department of Homeland Security official told state election leaders later in February that ICE officers won't be deployed, calling the claims "simply misinformation."

Heather Honey, DHS deputy assistant secretary for election integrity, made the remarks during a private call with election officials and representatives from the Election Assistance Commission, the Justice Department and the FBI.