ICE's Next Planned Destination: the Super Bowl

Immigration enforcement looks to be joining the mix surrounding Super Bowl LX. Officials in Santa Clara, California, say Immigration and Customs Enforcement is expected to be on the ground at next month's big game at Levi's Stadium, adding an immigration twist to the usual security presence, reports the Guardian. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations arm has worked the NFL's biggest game for years to target human trafficking and fake merch, but using the event for broader immigration enforcement would be new. "We have heard from the [Trump] administration that they intend to have ICE at the Super Bowl. I don't know how much of that is rhetoric," San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan tells KTVU.

The Department of Homeland Security wouldn't spell out what's planned, saying it doesn't "disclose future operations or discuss personnel," per the Guardian. DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the agency will work with partners to keep the game safe and that any response would be "conducted in line with the US Constitution," adding that people in the country legally and not breaking other laws "have nothing to fear." The prospect of game day operations has rattled advocates and local leaders, who say undocumented families are already staying home.

"We're already seeing that they are scared to go out to eat, scared to go to the local corner store, scared to send their kids to school," San Jose Councilmember Peter Ortiz told the San Jose Spotlight. He adds to NBC Bay Area, "If you do have a mixed immigration status, I personally would not go to the Super Bowl. It's too much of a risk." Corey Lewandowski, an adviser to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, previewed the strategy last fall, noting on a podcast that there'd be no "safe haven" for people in the country illegally, "not the Super Bowl, and nowhere else," per the Guardian. Noem later said, "We'll be all over that place," warning people not to attend unless they're "law-abiding Americans who love this country."

DHS says it has worked with the NFL for 20 years and sent about 700 of its own to last year's game in New Orleans for security and "intellectual-property enforcement." This year's event has already drawn political fire over its halftime lineup: President Trump has blasted the choice of Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny—who skipped US dates on his latest tour over concerns about ICE raids—as "terrible" and says he won't attend. Meanwhile, Italy is balking at reported plans to send ICE to the Winter Games.