A senior Department of Homeland Security official told state election leaders Wednesday that federal immigration agents will not be sent to polling sites during November’s midterm elections, addressing mounting concerns among Democratic officials about potential federal interference.

Heather Honey, the deputy assistant secretary for election integrity, made the assurance during a conference call with secretaries of state from across the country. According to a statement released by Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, Honey said that “any suggestion that ICE will be present at any polling location is simply not true.”

Officials from other states confirmed that the commitment was made. A spokeswoman for Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read said Honey offered the same pledge during the call, while Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, a Republican, wrote on X that the assurance came from “DHS.”

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

Honey, who has publicly supported President Donald Trump’s assertions that the 2020 election was affected by fraud, participated in the meeting alongside representatives from the FBI, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the Postal Service, and other federal agencies. The discussion focused on coordination efforts ahead of the midterm elections.

Although such pre-election coordination calls are typically routine, this year’s conversation took place against a backdrop of heightened tension. Several actions by the Trump administration have unsettled Democratic secretaries of state.

The Justice Department has filed lawsuits seeking access to detailed voter information, without publicly clarifying the purpose behind the requests. At the same time, Trump has continued to argue that widespread fraud tainted the 2020 election and has called on his administration to pursue further investigations.

Earlier this month, the FBI executed a raid on an election office in Fulton County, Georgia — a Democratic-leaning area that includes Atlanta — seizing ballots and other voting materials from the 2020 election.

In response to these developments, Democratic officials and public interest attorneys nationwide have spent months preparing legal and political strategies to counter any perceived interference in the midterm voting process or ballot tabulation.

Participants on Wednesday’s call said Democratic secretaries of state pressed Honey on several issues, including cuts to federal election security funding, the administration’s initiative to identify instances of noncitizen voting — which they argue is already illegal and rare — and the possibility that federal law enforcement officers could appear at polling sites in the fall.

The White House has previously dismissed those concerns, pointing out that there were no disruptions during last year’s elections, when Democratic candidates saw strong results. During a congressional hearing earlier this month, the leaders of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection each responded “No, sir” when asked whether their agencies were participating in any efforts to monitor or guard voting precincts.

{Matzav.com}