Now Trump Officials Are Choosing to Talk About ICE At the Polls

This is your TPM evening briefing.

Nicole Lafond, Hunter Walker, and Josh Kovensky

Mar 26, 2026

*Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks at CPAC. YouTube/TPM illustration.*

New Line Just Landed

I mentioned in yesterday’s edition of Where Things Stand that the Trump administration border czar, Tom Homan, was presenting a new retort to questions that are swirling around about whether President Trump is mulling ordering Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to monitor polling places during the midterms. This idea was injected into the debate largely thanks to Steve Bannon, whose raison d’être these days is to provoke enough to stay relevant, but Trump officials’ squishiness when asked about this proposal hasn’t helped to tamp down fears.

“Are illegal aliens voting?” Homan said on the Charlie Kirk Show this week when asked whether ICE would be at the polls. “I mean, bottom line is, what are they afraid of? And they say illegal aliens don’t vote. Well, look, you know, part of DHS’ job is secure elections, and I’m not going to say, you know, you know, what our plan is going forward, but if only U.S. citizens can vote, I don’t see the issue of what they’re concerned about.” (He is only partially correct in his assertion that DHS plays any role in securing elections, which you can read more about here.)

Homan seemingly pioneered that more sophisticated and trollish deflection. As I’ve noted a few times recently, both ex-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons twisted themselves in knots to avoid directly answering the question when pressed during congressional hearings.

Now, it might be the administration’s new line on the matter. During an interview with Matthew Schlapp at the Conservative Political Action Conference today, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche was discussing the administration’s voter ID fixation and brought up the question of ICE at the polls unprompted.

“Election integrity should be the most nonpartisan issue we have. Like, why is there objection to sending ICE officers to polling places? Illegals can’t vote,” he said, to applause and shouts of “amen.”

The new line is of a piece with an administration largely animated by what it imagines will own the libs; if non-citizens aren’t voting in elections like Democrats claim, then what are Democrats so worried about? (The answer to the question is at least twofold: federal agents stalking voting lines at polling places will intimidate voters. Their presence might also attract protest; it would serve Trump’s goals to inflame tensions at voting stations in communities whose election results he intends to challenge.)

But their lib-pwning pokes holes in their rationale for trying to force the passage of the SAVE America Act in Congress ahead of the midterms. The whole argument for the legislation rises and falls on Trump and Republicans’ belief in the myth that non-citizens are voting en masse in federal elections.

It’s hard to disentangle the conspiracy theorizing from the bad faith here: Whether Trump actually intends to act on the non-citizen voting myth, whether this is part of a plan to suppress the Democratic vote, or whether this is all Steve Bannon clamoring for attention — with an unfortunate degree of success — may not be clear for several months.

— Nicole LaFond

Trump Defends His ‘Mail-in Cheating’

Even though President Trump was present in Florida during early voting for the recent special election there, he opted to cast his vote by mail because it was more convenient with his schedule as president, he said, in as many words, today. That is something he is allowed to do under his state’s voting laws — and something that he and his Republican allies in Congress are trying to outlaw.

Trump was asked during a Cabinet meeting at the White House Thursday why he voted by mail — a practice that figures prominently in his mass voter fraud conspiracy theories — in Florida when he was in his district during early voting and could’ve voted in person.

“You know what, because I’m president of the United States, and because of the fact that I’m president of the United States, I did a mail-in ballot for elections that took place in Florida,” he said. “I decided that I was going to vote by mail-in ballot because I couldn’t be there, because I had a lot of different things.”

Hyprocrisy truly could not matter less at this juncture but: he just called mail-in voting “mail-in cheating” on Monday.

— Nicole LaFond

Congressman Questions The ‘Sophistication’ Of Wall Street After Markets’ Iran Roller Coaster Ride

Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY), who is the vice ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee and a member of its Defense subcommittee, opened up to TPM this week about how the White House’s Iran war funding requests have become a nearly $1 trillion “mess.” He also shared his thoughts on the wild ride markets have gone on since President Donald Trump launched strikes on Iran last month.

“I rarely criticize investors on Wall Street, but I really wonder who makes these investments, because the president makes one announcement where he says he is talking to the Iranians, about opening up the Strait of Hormuz, and gas prices drop, and the investment market goes up and it’s like, you’re getting your information from Donald Trump and you’re relying on it? I mean, really?” Morelle asked.

Morelle was referring to a phenomenon in recent weeks where Wall Street has responded optimistically to the president’s various and shifting proclamations about the war including expressions of optimism about its speedy conclusion and claims about a ceasefire deal that haven’t panned out. These remarks have caused sharp rebounds on the Dow Jones, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 despite fears of rising oil prices caused by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz and inflation tied to the massive costs of the war. The phenomenon has led TPM’s own Josh Marshall to speculate the markets may have “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Morelle offered a similarly perplexed take.

“Is this like a bunch of kindergartners deciding what to spend money on?” he asked. “I mean, it doesn’t really say much for the sophistication of Wall Street investment firms.”

For his part — as Congress has largely been left in the dark — Morelle is clearly pessimistic that Trump can stem rising oil prices or that the president has a real plan for the war in general.

Despite the periodic bounces, the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P are all down since the start of the war. On Thursday, the major stock indexes were all near session lows. Investor’s Business Daily attributed the poor performance to skepticism about Trump’s latest confident proclamations.

“Trump also noted some encouraging signs on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, but that didn’t seem to scare away the bears on the stock market today,” the trade publication wrote.

Wall Street is clearly starting to get the message that Trump’s word may not be worth betting on.

— Hunter Walker and Josh Kovensky