The Department of Homeland Security is declining to say whether federal immigration agents will be present at the Super Bowl.
After TMZ reported possible ICE presence and enforcement around Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said DHS is coordinating with law enforcement to keep the event secure.
“DHS is committed to working with our local and federal partners to ensure the Super Bowl is safe for everyone involved, as we do with every major sporting event, including the World Cup,” McLaughlin said in a statement on Thursday, Jan. 29.
She added that the agency would not provide details about potential deployments.
“Our mission remains unchanged. We will not disclose future operations or discuss personnel. Super Bowl security will entail a whole of government response conducted in-line with the U.S. Constitution,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin also emphasized that people who are lawfully present and not committing other crimes should not be concerned.
“Those who are here legally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear,” she said.
The comments come as public concerns have intensified following two recent fatal shootings involving federal agents in Minnesota — the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Both were U.S. citizens.
Good, originally from Colorado, was fatally shot in her car on Jan. 7 by an ICE agent after a group of people allegedly started blocking officials during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis.
McLaughlin said at the time that the ICE agent who fired and fatally struck Good was “fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public.”
Three weeks later, on Jan. 24, a U.S. Border Patrol agent officer fatally shot Pretti during “a targeted operation” against “an illegal alien wanted for violent assault,” McLaughlin said in an earlier statement.
McLaughlin said Pretti, a lawful gun owner, had “approached” officers with a gun and “violently resisted” as they attempted to disarm him.
However, witnesses later shared videos that appeared to challenge DHS’s account, including footage suggesting Pretti was holding a phone — not a gun — when officers pepper-sprayed him and took him to the ground.
The videos also showed the weapon on his waist appeared to have been removed before shots were fired.
Advocacy organizations say the uncertainty surrounding enforcement activity has left many communities on edge.
“There are so many agents flying all over the country, we don’t know when something can happen,” Huy Tran, executive director of the Service, Immigration, Rights and Education Network (SIREN), told local FOX affiliate KTVU. “We have the president changing his mind any time he feels like it. Things happen on a whim. That’s why we have to be ready so we don’t have to get ready.”
Separately, ICE agents will be present to support diplomatic security details during the 2026 Winter Olympics — and not to conduct immigration enforcement — the Associated Press reported on Tuesday, Jan. 27.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said he does not want ICE agents at the 2026 Winter Games in Italy, which begin Feb. 6 in Milan.
“This is a militia that kills, a militia that enters into the homes of people, signing their own permission slips,” Sala said, according to the BBC. “It is clear they are not welcome in Milan, without a doubt.”
Corey Lewandowski, a top adviser on Donald Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns who now supports DHS, said in October 2025 that ICE agents would be present during this year’s Super Bowl and Bad Bunny’s halftime performance.
“There is nowhere you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally,” Lewandowski said on The Benny Show podcast. “Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else. We will find you and apprehend you and put you in a detention facility and deport you.”
“So know that is a very real situation under this administration, which is contrary to how it used to be,” he added.
