Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will be at the 2026 Super Bowl, a Trump administration official warned after Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny was named this year’s halftime show performer.
“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else,” Department of Homeland Security adviser Corey Lewandowski said Wednesday on Benny Johnson’s podcast “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 what how it used to be.”
Bad Bunny, a Grammy-winning singer who previously appeared alongside Shakira and Jennifer Lopez at the 2020 NFL championship, will headline the Super Bowl LX halftime show on Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, California. The Latin trap and reggaeton singer-rapper has been one of the world’s most streamed artists for the past five years, acted in movies like “Happy Gilmore 2″ and “Bullet Train,” appeared at WrestleMania twice, and will host “Saturday Night Live” for the second time this Saturday.
“What I’m feeling goes beyond myself,” Bad Bunny said in a statement Sunday. ”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. Ve y dile a tu abuela, que seremos el HALFTIME SHOW DEL SUPER BOWL.”
The selection of Bad Bunny has sparked some controversy after he told i-D Magazine last month that his upcoming world tour does not include any U.S. concerts due to concerns over ICE raids.
“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,” he told the magazine.
Lewandowski, who was President Donald Trump’s campaign manager during the 2016 election, told “The Benny Show” that “It’s so shameful that they’ve decided to pick somebody who just seems to hate America so much to represent them at the halftime game.”
“…We should be trying to be inclusive and not exclusive,” Lewandowski said. “There are plenty of great bands and entertainment people out there who could be playing at that show that would be bringing people together and not separating them.”
“I don’t care if it’s a concert for Johnny Smith or Bad Bunny or anybody else. 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.”