State election official stunned by phone call about ICE at the polls

Heather Honey, an official with the Department of Homeland Security, said on a call with state election officials that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will not show up at the polls during the 2026 midterm elections and that anyone who says they will is spreading disinformation, according to two officials who were on the call.

Honey, an election denier who backed President Donald Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 election and has since been appointed to work on election security, represented DHS on a Wednesday call hosted by five executive branch agencies involved in protecting and monitoring elections. He made the statement in response to a question about ICE’s presence at the polls being an intimidating factor, according to Arizona Democratic Secretary of State Adrien Fontes.

“He made a very strong statement and acknowledged, flat out, that anyone who said ICE would be at polling places was spreading disinformation,” Fontes told News themezone.

Many Trump allies have called for ICE to show up at the polls or declared that there would be nothing wronglifting concerns Advocates said ICE would be used to intimidate potential voters.

“You’re absolutely right: ICE will surround the polls in November,” former Trump adviser Steve Bannon said on his podcast on February 4.

“She is absolutely the wrong messenger to assure us that ICE will not be at the polling places,” Fontes said. “When I heard it, at first I was flabbergasted that she was so direct and so strong with that statement. And then I realized it was her and I knew I couldn’t believe it.”

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the issue.

Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images

Honey has previously made false claims about DHS election policy. In a similar call with state election officials in 2025, Honey said DHS was not using voter registration data from states that were complying with Trump’s executive order requiring them to share their complete voter lists, according to Democracy Docket. This contradicted previous statements by DHS.

Other participants on the call hope this is a true statement of agency policy.

“I was encouraged by the promise that ICE agents would not be in and around polling places,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, told News themezone. “We assume this is a promise that all Americans can count on.”

While Honey said ICE would not go to the polls, she and the Justice Department representative refused to assert that the Constitution gives states final control over the conduct of their elections, absent congressional legislation, according to Fontes. Trump has tried to claim the opposite with his executive orders to require voter identification and proof of citizenship, among other things. All of these orders have been stayed in court.

“That was really disturbing,” Fontes said.

The rest of the call, which typically takes place before elections, was routine as federal agencies shared what services they can provide and how to coordinate with them to counter threats at polling places and investigate civil rights violations.