{"id":7161,"date":"2026-07-16T01:36:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=7161"},"modified":"2026-07-16T01:36:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:36:40","slug":"blanche-sidesteps-questions-on-federal-agents-at-election-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=7161","title":{"rendered":"Blanche sidesteps questions on federal agents at election sites"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/Ebvc8C3XHyyWc3n8UQwMQ0343Iw=\/0x126:5846x3414\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/15\/1784143401786.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Acting Attorney General <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/06\/04\/trump-nominate-todd-blanche-attorney-general\" target=\"_blank\">Todd Blanche<\/a> declined Wednesday to explicitly rule out deploying federal agents to polling places, saying only that he would &#8220;follow the law.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters:<\/strong> Lawsuits challenging the Trump administration&#8217;s use of federal agents near polling places are setting up a legal fight over whether those deployments violate federal protections against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/cleveland\/2026\/06\/16\/fbi-raid-voter-id-ohio\" target=\"_blank\">voter intimidation<\/a>. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying: <\/strong>When Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) asked whether Blanche would &#8220;commit to following clear federal law&#8221; by not deploying armed federal agents to polling places, Blanche replied that he would &#8220;commit to following the law \u2026 no matter what it includes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Klobuchar also asked if he understood why federal agents are a concern to voters, as some advocacy groups say it&#8217;s a form of voter intimidation.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;I&#8217;m not aware of armed agents being at polling places, so I don&#8217;t. I&#8217;m not aware of that concern, but I will tell you we will follow the law.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Context: <\/strong>Federal law generally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/18\/592\" target=\"_blank\">prohibits<\/a> &#8220;troops or armed men&#8221; from being deployed to polling places, except in narrow circumstances, such as repelling &#8220;armed enemies&#8221; of the U.S.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Driving the news: <\/strong>In response to an FOIA request, U.S. Customs and Border Protection <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/72384565\/democratic-national-committee-v-us-department-of-justice\/?order_by=desc#minute-entry-470604838\" target=\"_blank\">denied<\/a> it had any documents related to ICE deployments at polling places.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The agency later reversed course after the plaintiff pointed to agents deployed outside active voting sites in both Texas and California.<\/li>\n<li>A federal judge then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/72384565\/democratic-national-committee-v-us-department-of-justice\/?order_by=desc#minute-entry-470604838\" target=\"_blank\">ordered<\/a> CBP to begin processing any documents relating to potential ICE deployments at polling locations on Monday.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Between the lines:<\/strong> Multiple administration officials have also declined to explicitly rule out ICE presence near polling places, including Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Mullin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/trump-dhs-pick-wont-rule-out-ice-at-polls\/\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> ICE wouldn&#8217;t be present for &#8220;intimidation&#8221; purposes, but could be present if a &#8220;specific threat&#8221; arises. He said he was unable to predict what kind of threat might warrant ICE presence.<\/li>\n<li>Leavitt <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/white-house-cant-guarantee-ice-wont-be-at-polls\/\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> in February that she couldn&#8217;t &#8220;guarantee that an ICE agent won&#8217;t be around a polling location in November,&#8221; but noted the president wasn&#8217;t considering such a proposal.<\/li>\n<li>DHS and DOJ did not immediately respond to Axios&#8217; Wednesday afternoon requests for comment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Flashback: <\/strong>Blanche <a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracydocket.com\/news-alerts\/deputy-attorney-general-blanche-ice-agents-polling-places\/\" target=\"_blank\">told<\/a> attendees at CPAC earlier this year that Americans shouldn&#8217;t have objections to ICE at polling places.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Why is there objection to sending ICE officers to polling places?&#8221; Blanche asked. &#8220;Illegals can&#8217;t vote. It doesn&#8217;t make any sense.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom out:<\/strong> There is <a href=\"https:\/\/bipartisanpolicy.org\/article\/four-things-to-know-about-noncitizen-voting\/\" target=\"_blank\">no evidence<\/a> that undocumented immigrants have illegally voted in U.S. elections in numbers large enough to sway the outcome.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Voting rights groups say federal agents at polls can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brennancenter.org\/our-work\/research-reports\/sending-ice-polling-places-illegal\" target=\"_blank\">intimidate voters<\/a>, causing some Americans to feel unsafe and chilling voter turnout.<\/li>\n<li>Multiple federal statutes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.georgetown.edu\/icap\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2024\/08\/Voter-Intimidation-Fact-Sheet.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">prohibit<\/a> voter intimidation, making it illegal to intimidate, threaten, or coerce a person with the intent of &#8220;interfering&#8221; with that person&#8217;s right to vote.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Go deeper:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/06\/13\/ice-voter-files-texas-north-carolina\" target=\"_blank\">Exclusive: ICE obtains local voter files in Texas and North Carolina<\/a><\/p>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche declined Wednesday to explicitly rule out deploying federal agents to polling places, saying only that he would &#8220;follow the law.&#8221; Why it matters: Lawsuits challenging the Trump administration&#8217;s use of federal agents near polling places are setting up a legal fight over whether those deployments violate federal protections against voter&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/Ebvc8C3XHyyWc3n8UQwMQ0343Iw=\/0x126:5846x3414\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/15\/1784143401786.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}