Conservatives threaten ICE presence at the 2026 Super Bowl in response to Bad Bunny’s halftime show

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show news sparked criticism and now ICE raid threats from Homeland Security officer, Corey Lewandowski.

ICE is going to the Super Bowl, and I’m not talking about the ice in the tailgate coolers. 

This week, Corey Lewandowski, an adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will have a presence at the 2026 Super Bowl, where Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny is set to perform the halftime show. 

“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else,” Lewandowski said Wednesday on The Benny Show. “We will find you. 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 how it used to be,” he continued.

The NFL confirmed Sunday that the three-time Grammy Award winner Bad Bunny will headline the halftime show at the 2026 Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif. In a statement, the global megastar expressed pride in representing his community on one of the world’s biggest stages.

“What I’m feeling goes beyond myself. It’s for those who came before me and ran countless yards so I could come in and score a touchdown … this is for my people, my culture and our history,” Bad Bunny said.

Bad Bunny’s announcement instantly sparked criticism amongst conservatives. However, now the announcement of ICE’s planned presence at the game raises other concerns about safety and geographical knowledge. Lewandowski’s comments seemed to be a pointed attack at the Puerto Rican artists, but considering Puerto Rico has been a US territory since 1989 his attack on Bad Bunny holds no weight. 

“He’s not differentiating, which he should be, that Puerto Ricans are not immigrants, and that other people are going to be the ones that really suffer, or anything,” activist and scholar Rosa Clemente told theGrio. “Even during his residency, ICE agents were showing up. But the way that plays out in Puerto Rico is different.”

Bad Bunny himself has voiced concerns about ICE in the past. Just last month, the artist told i-D Magazine that fears of immigration enforcement factored into his decision to avoid the U.S. for his recent tour. 

“But there was the issue of — like, f‑‑‑ing ICE could be outside [my concerts]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about,” the artist told the magazine,” the singer told the outlet. 

Clemente predicted that the tensions surrounding ICE’s presence may ultimately lead Bad Bunny to step away from the performance altogether.

“He doesn’t need to do it. He’s the number one artist in the world; it’s not like he needed the money,” Clemente shared. “It’s completely contradictory. He doesn’t need to be on that stage. They’re gonna send ICE, and then, believe me, there’ll be 1000s and 1000s of people throughout California who will be going there to protect people, but to be protesting. So him continuing to perform is…the Super Bowl is not a political place like that, you know, [a performance] is not a protest.” 

Regardless of whether or not Bad Bunny decides to continue with his Super Bowl plans or if conservatives like Lewandowski fulfill their claims about ICE’s presence, the discourse online, particularly the outrage amongst one specific side, proves that some people really didn’t pay attention during geography lessons.