Intercept: ICE Officials Say Agency Ordered a Halt to All Immigration Enforcement on Election Day

The Intercept reported that ICE officials working in four areas of responsibility, covering parts of the northeastern, midwestern, northern, and south-central U.S. regions, said they had received orders to stand down on Election Day. Handed down through ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division through internal group chats and verbal commands, the directive called for a halt to all immigration enforcement operations on Election Day, according to ICE officials across the country who spoke to The Intercept. “We were told all operations are canceled for Election Day,” said one ICE official in the south who requested anonymity. Another, in the Great Lakes region, referred to it as “National No Enforcement Day.”

Sherman Austin, creator of the tracker StopICE.net, said: “Yesterday was the least amount of activity observed from ICE ERO throughout the entire year so far.” The creator of another tracking site said it logged about 56 reported ICE sightings nationwide on Election Day and also saw abnormally low levels of ICE activity on November 3. The article says some ICE officials believe the orders stemmed from ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations leadership, not directly from the White House. All sources are anonymous and no written directive was obtained. Compare 2026-11-03–ice-posts-election-day-warning-if-you-vote-illegally-we-will-find-you and 2026-11-03–trump-says-he-will-accept-midterm-results-mullin-says-he-sent-no-ice-agents-to-polls.