ICE Quietly Bails on Super Bowl as Outrage Grows
Source: Daily Beast
Updated Jan. 29 2026 4:14PM EST
Published Jan. 29 2026 2:57PM EST
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is quietly backing away from its earlier threat to make arrests at the Super Bowl. ICE agents will not be deployed at Super Bowl LX, set to take place at Levi’s Stadium near San Francisco on Feb. 8, TMZ reported Thursday. What’s more, Department of Homeland Security insiders told the outlet that ICE activity at any NFL-sponsored events across the city at all has been ruled out.
This is a stark reversal from DHS’s initial posture that agents would be present for the face-off between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. The change comes after polling revealed that ICE operations are overwhelmingly unpopular with Americans.
Federal agencies typically coordinate with state and local officials to provide security and combat human trafficking and other illegal activity at large-scale events. But the prospect of ICE agents actively detaining individuals at the Super Bowl—which draws some 60,000 attendees—was unprecedented.
“We have heard from the 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 told local news station KTVU just days before DHS quietly changed course.
Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-quietly-bails-on-super-bowl-as-outrage-grows/
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