A major U.S. government decision is set to impact the game-day experience at Super Bowl LX, where the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks are preparing to meet at Levi’s Stadium. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will conduct enforcement operations at Super Bowl LX, a move confirmed by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) special employee Corey Lewandowski during an interview back in October last year. Now, the department has once again confirmed its intentions.

“Those who are here legally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear,” DHS told TMZ.

Tensions have been building across the country, with protests against ICE intensifying after January 7, when Renee Good died after being shot by agent Jonathan Ross for blocking a road in Minneapolis. Weeks later, on January 24, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an ICU nurse with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, was fatally shot by U.S. Border Patrol agents on a Minneapolis sidewalk. Both incidents remain under investigation. But in the aftermath, the “No ICE at Super Bowl” movement has gained momentum, with more than 150,000 people signing petitions urging the NFL to keep federal agents out of Levi’s Stadium.

Despite the backlash, DHS leadership has signaled it will not back down, with Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stating the agency has no plans to alter its security role in America’s biggest sporting event.

“DHS is committed to working with our local and federal partners to ensure the Super Bowl is safe for everyone involved, as we do with every major sporting event, including the World Cup,” McLaughlin told TMZ Sports. “Our mission remains unchanged. We will not disclose future operations or discuss personnel.

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“Super Bowl security will entail a whole of government response conducted in-line with the U.S. Constitution.”

Corey Lewandowski had said the same in October

The special government employee at the Department of Homeland Security was on The Benny Show on October 1, where he said:

“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people who are in the country illegally, not the Super Bowl, not anywhere else. We will find and deport you. That is a very real situation.”

Although Lewandowski, who also served as a longtime adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, did not explain how the immigration enforcement operation would work at Super Bowl LX, he made one thing clear: enforcement will be everywhere. He also stressed that the move is a directive from the president and will not be paused for Super Bowl LX. But here is where things get murky.

Rapper Bad Bunny will perform at the halftime show. The Puerto Rican artist has been a staunch critic of President Donald Trump and even skipped the US from his tour, fearing that his fans would be subjected to immigration raids.

“The issue of, like, f–king ICE could be outside [my concert]. It’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about,” Bad Bunny had mentioned in September last year.

In recent months, similar fears have led to the cancellation of Latino events across the country. For instance, Philadelphia’s Carnaval de Puebla was called off, as were religious gatherings in San Bernardino and a Colombian Independence Day festival in Kansas. That said, neither Trump nor Lewandowski is elated about Bad Bunny performing at the upcoming Super Bowl. 

“It’s so shameful that the NFL picked somebody [Bad Bunny] who just seems to hate America so much, to represent them at the halftime game,” Lewandowski said in October.

So, while most fans are focused on the quarterback face-off between Patriots’ Drake Maye and Seahawks’ Sam Darnold, ICE is expected to maintain a visible presence at Levi’s Stadium.

The NFL has not released an official statement explaining how the increased ICE presence will affect stadium entry or whether the league has coordinated specific security protocols with federal authorities. But what we do know is that Trump won’t be attending the event.

Donald Trump has decided not to attend Super Bowl LX

Last year, Donald Trump became the first sitting President of the United States to attend a Super Bowl when he showed up at Super Bowl LIX between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. This year, however, Trump will not attend Super Bowl LX in California. He noted that Levi’s Stadium is “just too far away” while also criticizing Bad Bunny and Green Day, who are expected to perform at Super Bowl LX.

“I’m anti-them,” Donald Trump said in an Oval Office interview with The New York Post on January 23. “I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible.”

Donald Trump’s stance on the Super Bowl LX performers does not come as a surprise. In 2024, both Green Day and Bad Bunny publicly supported former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

Despite not performing in the country, Bad Bunny chose the Super Bowl because he believes his presence will send a message. He promised that “what I’m feeling goes beyond myself.” As for Green Day, the band’s frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong, has never hidden his feelings about Trump.

During a January 17 performance of the band’s 2004 hit ‘American Idiot’ at the Kia Forum, Armstrong again changed the song’s lyric from “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” to “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda.” It was a direct reference to Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

Alongside Bad Bunny and Green Day, American singer-songwriter Charlie Puth will perform the national anthem at Super Bowl LX.

While the Patriots and Seahawks prepare for the biggest game of the year, the looming presence of ICE has created an unprecedented and tense backdrop for Super Bowl LX, leaving fans, performers, and the league in uncharted territory.