Bennie Thompson
Role at the time: U.S. representative from Mississippi and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, writing with 14 other committee Democrats
Statement summary
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) led House Homeland Security Committee Democrats in a September 4 letter to Secretary Markwayne Mullin that expresses the members' strongest opposition to any plan to deploy DHS law enforcement officers to polling places in the 2026 midterm elections. The letter demands that Mullin make clear to the public that neither ICE nor any other DHS law enforcement personnel will be deployed to polling locations.
“we write today to express our strongest opposition to any plans the Department may have to deploy its law enforcement officers to polling places during the 2026 midterm elections we demand that you clarify your ambiguous comments regarding the circumstances under which the Department might deploy law enforcement personnel to polling places and make clear to the public that neither ICE nor any other DHS law enforcement personnel will be deployed to polling locations.”
Letter from Rep. Bennie Thompson and 14 other Democratic members of the House Committee on Homeland Security to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin about deploying DHS law enforcement to polling places, DHS voter-fraud investigations and a planned voter database.
Why we used this label
The reference point is the administration's stated or threatened use of ICE and other armed federal agents at or near polling places in the 2026 election. The letter expresses the committee Democrats' strongest opposition to any plan to deploy DHS law enforcement officers to polling places and demands a public commitment that ICE and other DHS law enforcement will not be deployed there. That expressly rejects the stated or threatened use, so we labeled it Condemned.