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.
The retreat comes amid mounting outrage over federal immigration enforcement tactics after a second U.S. citizen was killed by a federal agent in Minnesota this month.
The victim, ICU nurse Alex Pretti, 37, was fatally shot during an encounter with federal agents—an incident that has intensified scrutiny of ICE and Border Patrol operations nationwide. Pretti’s killing came after Renee Good, also 37, was killed by agents on Jan. 7.
The Super Bowl—which became the most-watched television event in U.S. history last year at 137.7 million viewers—now arrives as public trust in ICE has plummeted. More than half of Americans say they have “very little” or no confidence in the agency, according to recent polling.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin declined to clarify whether ICE would have any role at the event in a statement to the Daily Beast.
“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. “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.”
For months, the MAGA world has been up in arms over the Super Bowl’s performers. Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny is slated to headline the halftime show, while Bay Area natives Green Day will perform during the opening ceremony.
Bad Bunny has previously said he avoided touring in the continental United States out of fear that ICE would raid his concerts. After his Super Bowl appearance was announced in September, Donald Trump derided the decision as “absolutely ridiculous,” while some supporters went so far as to call for the global star’s deportation—despite Bad Bunny being a U.S. citizen.
Green Day, meanwhile, recently altered lyrics in their song American Idiot, swapping “I’m not a part of the redneck agenda” for “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda” during live performances.
Trump himself claimed this week that he will skip the Super Bowl altogether, dismissing the event as “just too far away.”
