Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold Leads Letter Seeking Confirmation of Homeland Security Policy on ICE at Polling Locations

Denver, March 9, 2026 - Today Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced that Colorado, along with eight other states, has sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Nominee Markwayne Mullin seeking confirmation that immigration enforcement agents would not be at polling locations during the 2026 election cycle. The letter follows comments made by both former Secretary Noem and Department of Homeland Security staff in recent days. 

“Trump and his administration have used ICE to terrorize and intimidate Americans. Immigration officials must not be used to intimidate voters,” said Secretary Griswold. “We are calling on the nominated Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin to confirm in writing that there will not be an ICE presence near voting locations in the 2026 election cycle.”

On Wednesday, February 25, 2026, Heather Honey, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Elections Integrity in the Office of Strategy, Policy & Plans at the Department of Homeland Security, told Secretaries of State that, “Any suggestion that ICE is going to be present at polling places is simply disinformation. There will be no ICE presence at polling locations.” Honey is an election denier, who has presented conflicting information in the past to Secretaries of State.

Former Secretary Noem then appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, and stated, “There are no plans to have ICE officers at our polling locations.”

The letter from Secretaries of State asks for confirmation in writing that the official position of both the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary-Nominee Mullin himself is that ICE will not have a presence at polling locations during the 2026 election cycle. 

Letter signatories include: 

• Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold
• Connecticut Secretary of State Stephanie Thomas
• Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias
• Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows
• Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon
• New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver
• Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read
• Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore
• Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs

Full letter sent by nine Secretaries of State to Homeland Security Secretary Nominee Markwayne Mullin (PDF).