GOP activist Terry Newsome is questioning DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek’s warnings about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at polling sites.
Kaczmarek recently released a video saying, “In DuPage County, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), will not be allowed to interfere with DuPage County elections in any way.”
In response to Kaczmarek’s warning, Newsome questioned the need for such precautions and raised concerns about how they might affect voters.
“I don’t understand why they should be intimidated unless they’re illegal,” Newsome, a former two-time GOP committeeman, told DuPage Policy Journal. “If she’s trying to protect the legal voting in the state of Illinois, then I would understand. Otherwise it makes no sense for any voters in the state of Illinois, county or DuPage County, to be intimidated by an ICE agent standing at the polls.”
Kaczmarek also set up a hotline for reporting ICE sightings and noted the county allows voters to cast ballots at any of 248 polling locations through its “Vote Anywhere” system.
Similarly, in Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson has backed a proposal to create “Democracy Zones” around polling sites, banning immigration enforcement within 100 feet of election locations.
Opponents, including 15th Ward Alderman Ray Lopez, said the plan “seeks an answer to a problem that doesn’t exist” and raises legal concerns. However, federal officials have said there are no plans to deploy ICE at polling sites.
When asked in Congress, leaders of ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol replied, “No, sir,” and Department of Homeland Security election integrity official Heather Honey said, “it is simply not true” that agents will be stationed at polling sites.
Despite these assurances, several Democrat-led states have introduced measures to restrict ICE near polling locations, and some state attorneys general have said they may monitor sites to ensure compliance.
Earlier this month, Newsome told the DuPage Policy Journal that he was confronted and intimidated outside a Darien polling site on March 3, with the man “plac[ing] his right hand inside his trench coat as if he was concealing a weapon.”
“She’s so worried and concerned about voter intimidation,” Newsome said about Kaczmarek. “I hope she’s going to take the lead on investigating what happened to me at Darien Park District, where a person came up and confronted me and tried to intimidate me and ask me if my candidates supported ICE, and that’s when he put his arm inside his trench coat.”
The incident occurred the same day Kaczmarek issued a press release noting that “ICE will not be allowed to interfere with DuPage County elections in any way” and called claims that undocumented immigrants vote a “myth.”
“Hopefully she saw that story if she’s going to take the lead in investigating this person who tried to intimidate me as soon as he found out that my candidates support and endorse ICE,” Newsome said. “Hopefully she’s going to represent all of us in DuPage County, not just radical left constituents or her legal immigrants that she’s trying to protect, voting rights for everyone.”
Kaczmarek’s warnings have drawn broad criticism.
Former state representative Jeanne Ives called her “completely incompetent,” while election integrity advocate Carol Davis said, “Kaczmarek is throwing red meat to the Democrat base because she is in jeopardy of losing her seat as county clerk.”
Social media posts also questioned the rationale, with Libs of TikTok asking, “If illegals are not voting, then why would anyone care if ICE is near a polling place?”
Other election administration issues have emerged. Newsome also previously said a voter registration error nearly prevented him from voting, as all five members of his household had their last names entered incorrectly in county records as “Updatesome.”
Kaczmarek’s office has also faced scrutiny for alleged partisanship and election administration decisions, as well as a 2025 censure by the DuPage County Board over financial mismanagement, delayed vendor payments, a budget shortfall and a 40% increase in staff salaries over five years.
She is currently under criminal investigation by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office over allegations including roughly $229,000 in no-bid contracts and mismanagement of election-related spending.
