The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is doubling down on the threat of ICE at the 2026 Super Bowl.
During a recent appearance on Benny Johnson’s podcast, she said that ICE will be “all over that place” and has every intention to “enforce the law” at the NFL championship, which will feature Bad Bunny as the halftime performer.
“I have the responsibility for making sure that everybody [who] goes to the Super Bowl has the opportunity to enjoy it and to leave. And that’s what America is about,” she said.
Noem went on to say that the only people who should come to the Super Bowl are “law-abiding Americans who love this country.”
Johnson, who suggested the NFL was trying to “send a message” to Donald Trump by booking Bad Bunny for the halftime show, asked Noem if she had a response to the sports organization.
“They suck and we’ll win and God will bless us,” Noem said. “We’ll stand and be proud of ourselves at the end of the day, and they won’t be able to sleep at night because they don’t know what they believe and they’re so weak. We’ll fix it.”
Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, was the first to announce ICE would be in attendance at the Super Bowl. Also on Johnson’s podcast, he said, “There is nowhere you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else. We will find you and apprehend you and put you in a detention facility and deport you. Know that is a very real situation under this administration, which is contrary to how it used to be.”
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In an interview with I-D in September, Bad Bunny said his Puerto Rico residency will not be stopping in the U.S. because “fucking ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
“There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the U.S., and none of them were out of hate — I’ve performed there many times,” he added. “All of [the shows] have been successful. All of them have been magnificent. I’ve enjoyed connecting with Latinos who have been living in the U.S. But specifically, for a residency here in Puerto Rico, when we are an unincorporated territory of the U.S. … People from the U.S. could come here to see the show.”
Reps for Bad Bunny did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.
From Variety US