Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials will be present at the Super Bowl in February, according to Department of Homeland Security adviser Corey Lewandowski. That decision comes after the NFL announced Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny will be the halftime performer at the big game.
ICE at the Super Bowl
Lewandowski made the announcement while on “The Benny Show,” a conservative podcast.
“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else,” Lewandowski said.
He touted the administration’s stance on illegal immigration.
“We will find you,” Lewandowski said. “We will apprehend you. We will put you in a detention facility, and we will deport you. So, know that that is a very real situation under this administration, which is completely contrary to what it used to be.”
Lewandowski also slammed the choice of Bad Bunny to headline the halftime show.
“I don’t care if it’s a concert for Johnny Smith or Bad Bunny or anybody else,” Lewandowski said. “We’re going to do enforcement everywhere. We are going to make Americans safe. That is a directive from the president. If you’re in this country illegally, do yourself a favor: go home.”
Download the SAN app today to stay up-to-date with Unbiased. Straight Facts™.
Point phone camera here
While ICE plans to be at the big game, finding immigrants without legal status at the game could prove questionable due to the sheer cost to attend.
Recent data shows undocumented immigrants paid, on average, about $9,000 per year in taxes. That means they’d make, on average, about $55,000 per year.
Tickets for last year’s Super Bowl went for more than $6,000, a significant decrease from previous years. That doesn’t include hotel, travel, food and more.
Market research from Media Culture, released in February, found that “Super Bowl enthusiasts” surveyed were largely white (68%) and had a median annual income of $74,000.
Bad Bunny halftime show
Bad Bunny himself is a U.S. citizen since he was born in Puerto Rico.
While addressing a separate story, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement, “ICE does NOT arrest or deport U.S. citizens.”
Meanwhile, the three-time Grammy winner called the upcoming performance a “touchdown for my people, my culture and our history.”
Having ICE at his shows is why Bad Bunny, real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, skipped the U.S. entirely on his current tour.
“There was the issue of like, f—-g ICE could be outside,” he said. “And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”
He has yet to publicly comment on Lewandowski’s announcement.
Super Bowl dangers
While ICE may not find exactly who they’re targeting, law enforcement at the Super Bowl is never a small undertaking.
Security at the 2025 Super Bowl in New Orleans was increased following the deadly terrorist attack in the French Quarter the month before the event.
The big game draws in hundreds of thousands of people to the host city, and the same is expected for Santa Clara, California, come February.
