Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not following through on threats to conduct immigration enforcement operations at Sunday’s Super Bowl, The Washington Post reported Monday.
The newspaper obtained a document from the host committee to elected officials in San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Jose after the committee spoke with NFL security and law enforcement on Friday.
“We have been in daily contact with the NFL, which has confirmed the following with the Department of Homeland Security: There are no planned ICE immigration enforcement operations associated with SBLX,” the committee’s letter went.
In “coordination with NFL security and local law enforcement, DHS will have federal agents at the Super Bowl to keep fans safe … federal security presence at SBLX is consistent with past Super Bowls and comparable to how DHS protects other major sporting events like the Olympics and World Cup.”
Sam Darnold of the Seattle Seahawks speaks with the media during Super Bowl LX Opening Night on Monday.
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In October, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made veiled threats to those who are not “American” about ICE presence at the big game in Santa Clara, California. The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots have since advanced to the big game.
“We’ll be all over that place,” she told right-wing journalist Benny Johnson. “We’re gonna enforce the law. So I think people should not be coming to the Super Bowl unless they’re law-abiding Americans who love this country.”
Before that, DHS adviser Corey Lewandowski made a more direct threat when asked if ICE would “have enforcement at the Super Bowl for the Bad Bunny Super Bowl halftime show.”
“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally,” Lewandowski replied. “Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else. We will find you. We will apprehend you. We will put you in a detention facility and we will deport you.”
In a statement to HuffPost, DHS said it would not give details of its Super Bowl operation but added, “Those who are here legally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear.”
A letter from the Super Bowl host committee, obtained by The Washington Post, says federal agents (right) have no planned operations associated with the big game.
The NFL announcement that Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican superstar who has been critical of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, would be performing the halftime show set off a wave of right-wing objections last year.
The rapper fired another salvo at Trump and Co. during the Grammy Awards on Sunday. “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say: ICE out,” he said. “We are not savage. We are not animals. We are not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans.”
DHS agents have received intensified scrutiny after killing two protesters in Minneapolis last month.
Protests even reached the Winter Olympics in Italy when people in Milan demonstrated against ICE’s presence even though the agency will not be deployed in the streets.