DHS Responds to Letter from Nine Secretaries of State, states "no reason for ICE personnel to be deployed to polling places."

Denver, May 27, 2026 - The Secretary of State's Office has received a letter from Todd M. Lyons, Acting ICE Director, in response to the March 9 letter from nine Secretaries of State that sought confirmation from Homeland Security Director Markwayne Mullin that immigration enforcement agents would not be deployed to polling locations during the 2026 election cycle.

The letter from Lyons, dated May 11, 2026, states, "there is no reason for ICE personnel to be deployed to polling places," and continues, "However, as the principal investigative component of DHS, ICE Homeland Security Investigations plays an important role in investigating voter fraud and will continue to perform this vital mission."

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold has issued the following statement in response:

"I agree that there is no reason for ICE personnel to be deployed to polling places. I remain deeply concerned that the agency's leadership cannot provide an unequivocal answer to this question, however. ICE has been used to intimidate Americans. They must not interfere with our elections or engage in any behavior that would intimidate voters."

Mr. Lyons had previously made similar comments during a Senate Homeland Security Committee meeting in February 2026. When pressed on a hypothetical of whether he would follow orders to deploy ICE agents to polling places from then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristy Noem, he declined to explicitly state whether he would or would not follow that order.

The letter from nine Secretaries of State followed comments made by both former Secretary Noem and Department of Homeland Security staff.

In February, 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."

Former Secretary Noem then appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee in March and stated, "There are no plans to have ICE officers at our polling locations."

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

Letter signatories included:

• 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

March 9 letter sent by nine Secretaries of State to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin (PDF)

May 11 response from Acting Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Director Todd M. Lyons (PDF) The letter was dated more than one month after a requested deadline to respond of April 8, 2026.