DHS confirms Super Bowl security role amid fears of ICE enforcement — but details remain unclear

With Super Bowl LX less than two weeks away, federal officials have confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security will be involved in security for the Bay Area’s biggest event in years — a routine role the department plays at major sporting events — even as viral reports and heightened national tensions have fueled fears that immigration enforcement could be tied to the game.

DHS said this week it will be involved in Super Bowl security but declined to detail what personnel or operations that presence will include. The lack of specificity has led to questions locally about whether immigration enforcement could be part of the federal role, despite the department’s long-standing involvement in large-scale event security.

In a statement, Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary at DHS, said the department 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.”

“Our mission remains unchanged,” she said.

McLaughlin declined to disclose “future operations or discuss personnel,” but said Super Bowl security would involve a “whole of government response conducted in-line with the U.S. Constitution.”

“Those who are here legally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear,” she added.

DHS — which includes agencies such as Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — routinely has a presence at major events like the Super Bowl. Under the Biden Administration, the department sent 600 personnel, including ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents, to Arizona in 2023 to assist with security for the game.

Juliette Kayyem, who previously served as DHS assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs under President Barack Obama, said that prior to the Trump era, federal involvement at the Super Bowl would not have drawn scrutiny.

“It would be obvious to have DHS,” Kayyem said in an interview. “There are things the federal government can do that state and local agencies can’t.”

For example, she said, if a stadium sits near waterways, the Coast Guard would be deployed to protect the perimeter. DHS also plays a role in investigating crimes that historically spike around major events, including child exploitation and human trafficking.

The Super Bowl would not be the setting for sweeping immigration raids, Kayyem said. At most, ICE involvement would likely be limited to targeted enforcement tied to existing investigations.

But heightened political tensions have blurred those distinctions.

“You can’t even say DHS now without a political overlay,” she said.

Those anxieties have been amplified by recent high-profile killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minnesota, incidents that have reverberated nationally and intensified scrutiny of federal law enforcement activity ahead of major public events.

Concerns about ICE targeting major sporting events have lingered in the Bay Area over the past year, including ahead of World Cup matches scheduled for this summer at Levi’s Stadium.

Potential ICE activity cast a shadow over last year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal at the Santa Clara stadium, where Mexico defeated Honduras 1-0. Fans told Bay Area News Group at the time that the fear of immigration enforcement at the game kept some of their friends at home.

Speculation intensified again in October after comments by Corey Lewandowski, a longtime Trump adviser and now an adviser to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally, not the Super Bowl and nowhere else,” Corey Lewandowski said on “The Benny Show,” a right-wing podcast.

DHS has not indicated that such enforcement would occur at the Super Bowl, and federal officials have declined to describe any immigration-related operations tied to the event.

The Santa Clara Police Department, which serves as the lead public safety agency for the Super Bowl, referred questions about federal involvement to a previously released video statement from Police Chief Cory Morgan.

In the video, Morgan said that the Police Department “does not necessarily receive advanced notice” of federal operations.

“Federal immigration enforcement is handled by federal authorities,” Morgan said. “As a matter of practice we do not confirm, deny or speculate about the presence or activities of other agencies. Our officers remain focused on local public safety protecting constitutional rights and serving the community in a professional and impartial manner.”

The NFL did not respond to a request for comment.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Otto Lee, who serves as the president of the Board of Supervisors, said in a statement that the county vows to protect its residents and doesn’t plan on cooperating with ICE.

“If anyone comes into our county masked, spreading terror, breaking laws and threatening our residents, they will be arrested,” Lee said. “Our Sheriff’s Department is working diligently to protect our county’s residents, and we will continue to coordinate with local law enforcement agencies throughout the region to ensure a safe event for all.”

Lee’s comments about ICE agents come as Attorney General Rob Bonta and Governor Gavin Newsom issued guidance this week that state and local law enforcement could investigate potential crimes committed by federal agents, following the killings of Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, and Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse in Minneapolis.

Lee urged residents to contact the Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network if they see ICE activity in the community, noting that “we want to build power, not panic during and leading up to the Super Bowl.” The organization, which has seen a surge of calls in the last year, sends trained responders to the scene of suspected ICE activity to confirm whether it is ICE or another law enforcement agency.

Tatiana Villaseñor-Carrillo, a dispatcher with the Rapid Response Network, said the organization has been preparing for months.

“The reality is that ICE is always present in our communities,” she said. “I understand that with large scale events the severity and the numbers are set to be increasing. We are essentially just preparing ourselves for worst case scenarios in the case that it does happen, but I do think that the trickle effects of the mass hysteria are already happening.”

Kayyem, the former DHS official, said she believes the White House is weighing how aggressively to pursue immigration enforcement in the lead-up to the Super Bowl.

“Based on the pushback in Minnesota, based on the White House’s invested interest in having a successful Super Bowl, I would suspect that DHS’s greatest presence will be its traditional presence,” she said, “which is it simply has assets that a state and locality can’t match.”