DHS official promises that federal immigration agents won't be at polling places during the midterms

DENVER (AP) — A Department of Homeland Security official on Wednesday told state election administrators that immigration agents will not be stationed at the polls during November's midterm elections, trying to swat down one of Democrats' greatest fears about possible election interference from the Trump administration.

Heather Honey, who serves as deputy assistant secretary for election integrity, told the group of secretaries of state that “any suggestion that ICE will be present at any polling location is simply not true,” according to a statement from Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat.

A spokeswoman for Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read also said Honey made the pledge, and Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, a Republican, posted on the social media site X that the promise came from “DHS.”

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

Honey, an election conspiracy theorist who has backed false claims that President Donald Trump did not lose the 2020 election, was on the call along with representatives of the FBI, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Postal Service and other federal agencies to talk about coordination for the midterms.

Such a call normally would be routine, but this year several moves by the Trump administration have unnerved Democratic secretaries of state.

His Department of Justice has been filing lawsuits to get detailed voter data, without explaining why it wants the information. Trump also has been renewing his false claims that widespread fraud marred the 2020 election and has urged his administration to investigate.

Relying on long-debunked election conspiracy theories, the FBI earlier this month raided an election office in Fulton County, Georgia, a Democratic stronghold that includes Atlanta, to seize ballots and other voting records from 2020.

Democratic officials and public interest lawyers around the country have been strategizing for months about how to react to possible Trump meddling in the midterms voting and ballot counting.

Honey's presence on the call was a reminder of the new environment for election officials. The U.S. Constitution provides that states, not the federal government, run elections. Most states vest that power in the elected office of the secretary of state.

Participants on the call said Democratic secretaries of state asked Honey several questions about Trump administration cuts to election security funding, its campaign to root out noncitizen voting — something that is already illegal and rarely occurs — as well as fears about federal law enforcement officers appearing at polling places in the fall.

The White House has scoffed at those fears before, noting there was no disruption during last year's election, when Democrats performed well. During a congressional hearing earlier this month, the heads of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection both answered “No, sir” when asked if they are involved in any efforts to guard voting precincts.

Democrats note that Trump was willing to try to overturn his 2020 loss, pardoned those who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, on his behalf and has stocked his administration with people who helped him try to overturn the results in 2020.

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Associated Press writer Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, contributed to this report.