This story first appeared on KQED.
On Sunday the Bay Area will host Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
Coming soon after violent clashes involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and Minnesota residents, including two fatal shootings, longstanding anxieties about a potential ICE presence have only grown.
But as the Super Bowl draws closer, what is actually known about potential plans by President Donald Trump’s administration to send ICE to the Bay Area? What are local officials and advocates advising residents and how can you avoid accidentally spreading misinformation about immigration enforcement sightings in the region?
Keep reading for what is known about ICE and the Super Bowl right now.
What is known about a possible ICE presence at the Super Bowl?
The Trump administration has sent mixed messages on whether ICE will be part of this year’s Super Bowl safety strategy.
When asked by right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson in October if there would be ICE enforcement at the game, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, “There will be, because the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for keeping it safe.” She added in the same interview that “people should not be coming to the Super Bowl unless they’re law-abiding Americans who love this country.”
On another episode of Johnson’s podcast later that month, DHS adviser Corey Lewandowski echoed the administration’s plan to send ICE to the event, calling the enforcement a “directive from the president.”
But when KQED sought confirmation from DHS last week, agency officials were more vague.
“We will not disclose future operations or discuss personnel,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an email. “Super Bowl security will entail 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.”
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen told the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday that they are not aware of immigration enforcement agents being part of Super Bowl security plans.
“We’re going to keep monitoring the situation, but we have no belief that there is anything different than what happens around a Tier-1 event of this magnitude from the federal law enforcement,” Lurie said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office told SFGATE that “we don’t anticipate unusual ICE activity” at the Super Bowl, and that the state would “work with state and local officials to ensure everyone’s safety.”
“We expect our federal partners to uphold safety, transparency and trust,” Newsom spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo said.
Immigrant defense groups have shared that while they don’t have any insight into federal operations either, they are actively educating local businesses and families on what to do if they spot ICE or Customs and Border Patrol agents.
What are elected officials saying?
Since the killing of Renée Macklin Good and Alex Pretti by immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis, state and local officials in California have ramped up their criticism of DHS leadership. Newsom, along with senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, has called for Noem’s resignation.
In the Bay Area, local leaders have acknowledged the panic among residents caused by the lack of clear information on whether ICE or CBP will be in the region. San José Mayor Matt Mahan stated on social media that his city’s police officers “cannot and will not interrupt or assist with legal immigration enforcement — but they will protect you, your freedoms and our city.”
Think you see ICE agents? You can call Stand Together Contra Costa at (925) 900-5151; if it’s in Richmond, you can call 510-240-9420.
Need support with your immigration case? Catholic Charities East Bay, in cooperation with the city of Richmond, now offers free weekly legal help for Richmond residents applying for immigration benefits with USCIS. Call 510-768-3100 or email richmond_immigration@cceb.org.
But officials also acknowledge that for the Bay Area to host major sporting events, such as the Super Bowl and the FIFA World Cup later this year, they must cooperate at some level with the Trump administration.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t limits to what federal agents can do, Santa Clara County Supervisor Otto Lee said on Tuesday. “No one is above the law. There is no absolute immunity, and there is no license to kill,” he said of ICE officers.
“If anyone comes into our County masked, spreading terror, breaking laws and threatening our residents,” he said, “they will be arrested by our Sheriff’s deputies and police officers and held accountable under the full force of federal and state law.”
And on Thursday, Santa Clara County Sheriff Robert Jonsen reminded residents that his own department’s deputies do not cover their faces while on duty.
“If they’re masked and they’re trying to hide their identity, then somebody hasn’t communicated with us,” he said, “because we’ve made it very clear to our officers, our workforce is to be open, transparent and engaged with this community.”
The city of Richmond is considering making its properties “ICE-free.” At Tuesday’s city council meeting, elected officials will discuss a proposed ordinance that would ban ICE operations from city-owned property.
What are advocates saying?
Amidst this uncertainty about the true scale of possible ICE activity at the Super Bowl, the Rapid Response Network in Santa Clara County — a coalition of hundreds of volunteers working around the clock to verify possible ICE sightings — is recommending that vulnerable families do not let their guard down.
“We’re not sure if ICE is coming and when they’ll be here and how many agents they’ll be sharing,” said Socorro Montaño, a member of the network, at a press conference on Thursday. “What we do know is that ICE is always present in our community.”
“This threat is not new, so we don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” they said. “What we know is we need to stay ready so we don’t have to get ready to protect our community.”
On Super Bowl Sunday, the coalition will mobilize near Levi’s Stadium teams of legal observers trained to identify federal immigration agents and who can also send out alerts to the community if ICE or CBP agents are spotted. Montaño also confirmed that the network has been in communication with the unions representing stadium workers.
Advocates are also recommending that residents inform themselves of their rights when crossing paths with a federal officer and also save the contact information of their county’s rapid response network to their phone.
Will President Donald Trump be at the Super Bowl?
According to the president’s own statements, no. In an interview in late January with the New York Post, Trump said the Santa Clara game was “just too far away.”
He also criticized the choice of Bad Bunny and Green Day as the event’s musical acts, calling their booking “a terrible choice.” Both acts have been critical of Trump and his administration.
What has ICE’s presence at the Super Bowl looked like in previous years?
The presence of ICE at a Super Bowl is not unprecedented.
At last year’s Super Bowl, ICE officers were deployed to New Orleans — a decision the federal government described as a partnership “with the NFL and federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to ensure the sports arena, workers, volunteers, athletes and spectators are safe and secure.”
In both previous Democratic and Republican administrations, DHS has been involved in some capacity with Super Bowl security, previously stating that the game has “significant national and/or international importance.” Including immigration enforcement as part of the event’s security strategy, however, is a development unique to Trump’s time in the White House.
How do I know when rumors of ICE presence in the Bay Area are real?
It’s normal to feel scared about ICE showing up in your community, Huy Tran — executive director of Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN) — told KQED in 2025.
“I understand the desire to want to do something, to share information right away,” said Tran, whose organization’s San José and Fresno offices offer legal aid, training and leadership development to immigrant communities.
But fear also makes it hard for people to sort bad information from good, and panic can lead folks to quickly share online posts without verifying them.
“Anxiety, fear, it spreads incredibly quickly,” Tran said. “When people send information out to these huge networks, it spreads far, wide and fast.”
So if you think you see ICE in your neighborhood or see ICE reported nearby on social media, advocates advise that you call them instead of circulating anything online.
Tran recommends you should first reach out to your local rapid response network — a coalition of volunteers, organizations and attorneys that work together to confirm ICE sightings and connect people who ICE has detained to legal representation. Contra Costa’s can be reached at (925) 900-5151.
If I do see ICE in the Bay Area, can I film them?
“Taking photographs and video of things that are plainly visible in public spaces is a constitutional right — and that includes police and other government officials carrying out their duties,” the ACLU said.
And while there’s no Supreme Court ruling on an unambiguous First Amendment right to film law enforcement officers, “all of the seven U.S. Federal Circuit Courts that have considered the issue have pretty much said there is a First Amendment right to record the police and observe the police,” criminal justice reporter C.J. Ciaramella at Reason told KQED last month.
Bystander videos also provide important counternarratives to official law enforcement accounts. After the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by ICE officers, Trump administration officials immediately claimed Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” intending to “massacre” officers — claims contradicted by the multiple eyewitness videos taken of the killing.
Officials with the Trump administration have, however, characterized filming ICE as “violence” and “doxing,” and Americans have faced detention from ICE after filming them.
So while recording ICE might be your constitutional right, it also brings increasing risks.
Richmondside is a media partner of KQED, a listener-supported public radio station serving Northern California. We occasionally republishe KQED stories we believe will be of interest to our readers.
