Threat of stationing immigration agents around voting locations has become a concern as it can be a deterrent to legal residents of color who are concerned they may be harassed by federal agents
The White House refused to rule out following through on the threat of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents being sent out to āsurround the pollsā when voters cast ballots in this Novemberās midterm elections as a way of depressing Democratic turnout and boosting chances of Republican victories in the House of Representatives and Senate.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday said she could offer āno guaranteeā that ICE personnel would not be stationed at polling sites when Americans are in the process of choosing whether to extend the Republican stranglehold on power at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
She had been asked about former White House chief strategist Steve Bannonās recent call for Trump to deploy ICE around election sites on his War Room podcast on Tuesday, just days after Trump himself called for a Republican ātakeoverā of vote-counting in Democratic-led states and municipalities.
I strongly feel this time around itās going to be a bigger spectacle, a bigger event all around because the tone has shifted. Watch nightly network news for an example. If you can choke through the liberal slop, they are featuring stories now about ICE acting like terrorists, about the administration lying, about people driving masked agents out of their town, they are painting it like an āunderdogs versus the fedsā narrative. (Not because the networks are suddenly finding human consciousness, but because this storyline sells.)
Midterms may go either way, but weāve had too much success either way to discount the power of individual states in changing their representation, and with that, their votes and funding. Thatās a huge deal. We just need to break the stranglehold a little and the system could stalemate for the next couple years and thatās enough time for people who arenāt Vance or Harris to start capturing media attention.