American Oversight Investigating Potential Trump Administration Plans to Deploy Military, ICE at Polling Places

Wednesday, American Oversight launched an investigation into whether the Trump administration is planning to deploy military personnel or immigration enforcement officials to polling places during the 2026 midterm elections. We filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the National Guard Bureau (NGB), and the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) to uncover any related directives, policies, or legal analyses.

The filings follow President Trump’s recent National Guard deployments to major cities, raising alarm that such tactics could extend to polling locations next year. Trump previously made similar threats ahead of the 2020 election, when he claimed he would send law enforcement officials to monitor polling sites. — a move experts warned could intimidate voters and potentially violate federal law.

“The presence of law enforcement or military personnel at polling places risks chilling voter participation and undermining public confidence in the integrity of our elections —– perhaps that is what President Trump is counting on,” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight. “The possibility that this kind of government power might be used to threaten voters exercising their constitutional rights demands scrutiny. Rather than stoke fears of political intimidation, the administration should strengthen trust in our democracy and address the real crises affecting people’s lives.”

Deploying military personnel or immigration enforcement officials to polling places would not be Trump’s first use of federal power to influence the 2026 midterms. With a history of punishing states that refuse to do his bidding, he has publicly pressed states to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm cycle, intervening directly in the redistricting process in states like Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina to lock in additional Republican seats rather than wait for the usual post-census period.

Additionally, Trump ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate ActBlue, the main online fundraising platform for Democratic candidates, while ignoring its GOP counterpart, WinRed. The DOJ has also demanded detailed voter registration data from states, threatening legal action against some Democratic-led states that have not complied. What’s more, Trump has also indicated he will sign an executive order outlawing voting machines and mail-in ballots, despite courts blocking his earlier executive actions that sought to impose proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration.

This latest investigation builds on American Oversight’s ongoing efforts to ensure transparency and accountability surrounding threats to democratic institutions and voter access.