Granted, it’s Steve Bannon, who has inexplicably managed to remain popular with the MAGA base even after stealing their money donated to build the border wall, conclusively proving they, too, are stable geniuses. But Bannon’s ideas still get play among top White House advisors like Laura Loomer, so it’s worth taking seriously.

The former White House strategist called for the Trump administration to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to polling sites to prevent noncitizens from voting, citing a debunked conspiracy theory about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

“We’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November. We’re not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again,” Bannon said Tuesday on his podcast. “And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.”

It may well be debunked from the standpoint of rational people, but that doesn’t mean Trump still doesn’t regurgitate the ridiculous lie at every possible opportunity, the latest being the 78th Prayer Breakfast where Trump talked about how his “big ego” couldn’t handle the humiliating defeat to Joe Biden. Then again, it is an article of faith among the MAGA base, explaining why Trump is viewed as a “deeply religious man.”

The idea of having ICE and CBP agents at the polls might not yet be official, but it makes enormous sense from the perspective of chilling voters in blue cities. It’s not that there is any legitimate reason for their presence, given that noncitizen voting is extremely negligible and it is highly unlikely any illegal aliens will be captured attempting to vote. But that’s not the point.

Given that the primary weapon used by ICE to find “illegals” is that they appear to be Hispanic, speak Spanish or speak English with an accent, there is a strong likelihood that it will have a potential impact on the 68 million Hispanic citizens of the United States. They will go to vote, get stopped by ICE agents who demand they prove they aren’t “illegals” and, if they either don’t possess their passport or birth certificate, or if they are uncooperative with being detained since citizens of the United States are under no duty to “show their papers” upon demand, there is the possibility, if not likelihood, that they will be seized, held and, should they annoy the agents, beaten. Yes, it’s possible they will be killed as well.

And Bannon didn’t stop with those wusses from ICE.

The conservative influencer reiterated his response a day later, calling for Trump to go even further and send U.S. Army troops to voting locations. Federal law prohibits the president from deploying military troops “at any place where a general or special election is held,” and it is a crime in several states to carry a firearm at or near a polling place.

“President Trump has to nationalize the election. You’ve got to put — not just, I think, ICE — you’ve got to call up the 82nd and 101st Airborne [Divisions] on the Insurrection Act,” Bannon said Wednesday. “You’ve got to get around every poll and make sure only people with IDs, people … actually registered to vote and people that are United States citizens vote in this election.”

It would be flagrantly illegal? So what? It’s not as if it can be easily stopped once deployed, even assuming opponents can get into court swiftly enough to address whatever happens on the ground on election day. And even if they are able to get an injunction, will anybody care? Abiding court orders isn’t exactly a hallmark of either the Trump administration, ICE or show pony Hegseth.

If you were a Latino American, would you take the risk of wrongfully ending up in a detention center, even if only for a few days or months, to cast your vote? More to the point, the detention wouldn’t have to go very far to prevent Latinos, and maybe some of those people from “garbage” nations, to hold them beyond the time the polls are open so that the opportunity to vote is lost.

When asked if this was something Trump might do, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt refused to rule it out.

Even Republican Senator Thom Tillis sees a problem with the idea.

Tillis warns that sending ICE to the polls in November, as Steve Bannon suggested, could have “a chilling effect” on voting:

“I think there’s an estimated 60 million Hispanics legally present in this country. We have seen some apprehensions of legally present people…I think it…

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) February 5, 2026

Tillis is so close to grasping why this would be an outrageous disaster. Which is all the more reason why Trump will adore the idea. After all, it’s not as if his ego could take another crushing defeat.