As polls closed in several states on Tuesday evening, there were no signs that federal immigration agents had been deployed in large numbers to voting sites, a widespread concern among civil rights groups and immigrant advocates leading up to the election.
But Trump administration officials made clear in a flurry of social media posts on Tuesday that noncitizens who illegally voted would be hunted down. Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, also indicated that federal agents would scour voter records after the midterm elections to try to find unlawful voters.
“If you vote illegally, we will find you,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in one post. “We will track you down, arrest you, and prosecute you. There will be no escape.”
ICE’s account also promoted about a half dozen arrests throughout the day, posting photos depicting handcuffed immigrants accused of illegally voting, mostly in past elections. “ANOTHER VOTER FRAUD ARREST!” the agency wrote in one post.
The remarks signaled that the administration planned to continue its search for noncitizens who illegally registered to vote or actually voted, an effort that it has already dedicated massive resources to. Many studies have found noncitizen voting to be rare, but President Trump has falsely called the issue rampant. Mr. Mullin and other administration officials have said that any amount of noncitizen voting is unacceptable.
In a Fox News interview on Tuesday, Mr. Mullin said he had “made it very clear that ICE agents aren’t going to be around polling places unless there’s a threat.” But he indicated that his department would scrutinize voter data after the election.
“After this election we’ll be gathering all the data. We’ll be gathering the voting logs, and we’ll be going through those and making sure that no illegals voted,” Mr. Mullin said.
The number of people who have been charged so far make up a small share of the more than 158 million ballots cast in the 2024 general election. The administration has charged about 240 people with voting fraud-related offenses since Mr. Trump returned to office, according to the Justice Department.
As of Oct. 15, 25 people had been found guilty or pleaded guilty, a New York Times review of court records found. Two had been acquitted, and charges were dropped or cases were dismissed in four other instances.
Several election experts and immigrant advocacy groups have denounced the efforts, saying that the administration’s intense focus on the issue was not producing evidence that noncitizen voting was widespread, and that it instead could be intimidating voters.
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