NFL security director Cathy Lanier said Tuesday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers will not attend this weekend’s Super Bowl in California.
U.S. media recently reported that ICE officers are expected to be on duty at Sunday’s game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, home of the San Francisco 49ers.
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However, Lanier ruled out the possibility of ICE agents being involved in the game’s security plan while speaking at a security briefing on Tuesday.
“There are no enforcement actions planned this week for fans attending the Super Bowl during the Super Bowl or any Super Bowl-related events,” Lanier said.
Lanier said security plans for Sunday’s game – the largest annual event on the U.S. sports calendar – will remain consistent with past Super Bowls, adding that there are “no known, specific or credible threats” to the game.
ICE’s heavily armed and masked agents have been deployed in cities across the U.S. as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
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Last month, federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during the Trump administration’s massive deployment, sparking public outrage.
Corey Lewandowski, senior adviser to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, said immigration agents would be deployed during last year’s Super Bowl.
“There is no safe haven for people who are in this country illegally except the Super Bowl,” Lewandowski said.
“We will find you, we will arrest you, we will put you in detention, we will deport you.”
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However, Lanier reiterated that ICE would not be involved and highlighted the NFL’s decades-long partnership with the Department of Homeland Security.
“ICE has no plans to conduct enforcement activities,” she said. “We are confident about it.
“Our Department of Homeland Security, which has been our partner for over 20 years and is made up of over 20 different agencies, will be sending out a variety of different agencies. That does not include ICE. We did not deploy ICE at this Super Bowl and I believe we have not deployed ICE at the past few Super Bowls.”
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