'A pretext to rig the election': Democrats scramble to block ICE crackdowns near polling sites By Samuel Benson [View all]

Immigration enforcement is sowing chaos in Minneapolis and across the country. Democrats, elections officials and civil rights groups fear it could interfere with this Novembers elections and are scrambling for a response.
Theyre warning that the White Houses deployments of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents could act as a voter suppression tool should armed officers conduct raids at or near polling locations, scaring citizens into staying home.
You have to see whats happening: Trump is trying to create a pretext to rig the election, said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). It stands to reason that this private police [force] that hes building is, in part, to be used to try to suppress turnout in the election.
Senate Democrats considered a requirement banning ICE agents from polling sites as part of their demands in negotiating the Homeland Security funding bill, according to Murphy and Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.). But that policy was not included in Senate Democratic appropriators final list of demands to avoid a partial government shutdown, leaving voting rights advocates and Democratic state election officials on edge about whats to come.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson called fears of voter suppression Democrat conspiracies with no basis in reality.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/30/democrats-ice-deployments-midterm-elections-00756490