The White House said back in February that President Donald Trump had never discussed deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at polling locations. Now, MAGA media personality Steve Bannon has been pushing a theory linking the recent presence of ICE at airports to what he believes could be a “test run” for the upcoming midterm elections. The White House has not yet responded to Bannon’s latest comments.
Bannon, who previously served as White House chief strategist during Trump’s first term, has been vocal about wanting ICE agents at polling places in November. According to The Independent, he suggests that the ongoing deployment of ICE to airports, which has caused travel delays during a partial government shutdown, is a strategic move by the president.
“We can use what’s happening with these ICE helping out at the airports,” Bannon said on his War Room podcast, suggesting it could be used “as a test run, as a test case to really perfect ICE’s involvement in the 2026 midterm elections, sir?”
The White House has dismissed Bannon’s theory, but the airport deployments are rooted in a real political standoff
Bannon’s argument is based on the idea that ICE agents are “trained to, wait for it, check IDs,” which he sees as useful for the fall of 2026. This ties into his false claims that the 2020 election was rigged against Trump.
“We’re not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again,” Bannon declared on his podcast in February. He calls this “another 5D chess move from President Trump,” adding, “We’re tired of having elections stolen, so ICE is gonna be there in the fall of ’26, just like they are in the airports today.”
Back in February, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on the idea of ICE at polling locations when asked by reporters. She told them, “That’s not something I’ve ever heard the president consider. No.” She said she couldn’t guarantee an ICE agent wouldn’t be near a polling location, calling it a “very silly hypothetical question,” but made clear that Trump had not discussed any formal plans for such deployments.
The current presence of ICE agents at airports came after President Trump posted a warning on Truth Social. He said that if Democratic lawmakers failed to agree to a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA, he would “move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before.”
Trump has also made headlines recently for other unexpected moves, such as posting a bizarre SNL clip mocking the UK Prime Minister on the same evening the two leaders spoke about Iran. ICE agents were then seen patrolling terminals at several major airports.
The airport deployments are part of a bigger political dispute. Democrats have refused to fund the Homeland Security Department for over a month. They are pushing for reforms to ICE and Customs and Border Protection following the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis in January.
Separately, Trump’s handling of Iran has also drawn scrutiny, with a former counterterrorism chief warning Trump about a specific move that could hand Iran a number of hostages. So while Bannon has floated the idea of ICE at polling places, the White House has not yet addressed his most recent comments on the matter.
Published: Mar 24, 2026 04:00 pm