NFL confirms that ICE will not be present at the Super Bowl

There will be no raids at the Super Bowl. The NFL confirmed Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will not conduct immigration enforcement operations during Sunday’s game at Santa Clara Stadium in California, where the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks will face off in the Super Bowl. The Trump administration had warned that immigration agents would be making arrests during the biggest sporting event in the United States, where superstar Bad Bunny is scheduled to headline the coveted halftime show.

“There are no planned ICE or immigration enforcement operations that are scheduled around the Super Bowl or any of the Super Bowl related events,” said Cathy Lanier, NFL chief of security, at a press conference in San Francisco. “Our Department of Homeland Security, who’s been our partner for more than 20 years now, is made up of more than 20 different departments and will send a variety of different agencies. That does not include ICE. There is not ICE deployed with us at this Super Bowl,” she clarified.

Lanier’s remarks come a day after several national media outlets reported that the Bay Area Host Committee had already informed local authorities in San Jose, Santa Clara, and San Francisco that ICE agents would not be present at the Super Bowl. In a memo, the committee stated that the Department of Homeland Security had “confirmed” to the NFL that there would be no immigration enforcement operations.

According to the committee and Lanier, the federal security presence during the Super Bowl will be similar to that of other major sporting events, such as the Olympics, the World Cup, and previous Super Bowls. There will be agents from the Department of Homeland Security — but not ICE — who, along with local authorities, will be responsible for security at the event.

The NFL’s statements, however, have not quelled concerns raised by Trump administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who asserted last October that ICE agents would be “everywhere” during the Super Bowl. She was echoing comments made by her advisor Corey Lewandowski a few days earlier: “There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else.”

When asked Tuesday whether immigration authorities might show up unannounced at the game, Lanier responded that the league is confident in its cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security.

Concerns about potential raids at the Super Bowl have been growing as Sunday approaches. Protests against Trump’s immigration policies have intensified in recent weeks after federal agents deployed in Minneapolis killed two U.S. citizens in separate shootings in less than a month.

Last Sunday, Bad Bunny criticized the president’s anti-immigrant crusade during the Grammy Awards, where he won, among other accolades, Album of the Year, making his album the first Spanish-language record to achieve this recognition. In his opening speech of the night, he said: “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out. We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.” “The only thing that is more powerful than hate is love. So please, we need to be different if we fight we have to do it with love,” the Puerto Rican star added.

Then, in a second speech upon receiving the most important award of the night, the singer referred directly to the migrant community: “I want to dedicate this award to all the people who had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams [...] For all the people who have lost a loved one and even then have had to continue moving forward and continue with so much strength, this award is for you all”

Trump, for his part, has said he will not attend this year’s Super Bowl because California is too far from Washington, despite having attended the 2025 final in New Orleans. The president has also repeatedly criticized the choice of Bad Bunny to perform at the halftime show, which for the first time in its history is expected to be almost entirely in Spanish. The Republican has called the selection “terrible” and claimed he doesn’t know the most listened-to artist in the world.

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