Key facts
- The Trump administration is increasing prosecutions of noncitizens accused of voting in US elections.
- The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using hundreds of agents to review state voter rolls.
- DHS is utilizing a commercial data broker to supplement publicly available voter roll information.
- Critics argue the effort aims to undermine confidence in elections and could disenfranchise legal voters.
- DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated the agency has 1,620 cases under investigation.
- Nevada reported that DHS identified nearly 16,000 potential noncitizens on its voter rolls, verifying 185 cases.
The Trump administration is intensifying efforts to prosecute noncitizens accused of voting in US elections, a move critics say aims to undermine confidence in the electoral process. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has mobilized hundreds of agents across security and immigration agencies to review at least 47 state voter rolls, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.
The effort, directed by the White House, involves using a commercial data broker to supplement publicly available voter roll information, a practice that experts warn could lead to citizens being falsely flagged as illegal voters. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated that the agency has 1,620 cases currently under investigation.
Critics argue that the administration's claims of widespread noncitizen voting are not supported by evidence and that this hunt is part of a broader strategy to diminish confidence in elections. Multiple studies, including a Reuters analysis, have found the number of unauthorized votes cast to be statistically insignificant. While states may have added over 30,000 noncitizens to voter rolls since 2000 due to errors, it is unclear how many cast ballots, and the numbers are considered too small to affect election outcomes.
In Nevada, DHS claimed in July to have identified nearly 16,000 potential noncitizens on state voter rolls, but the state's secretary of state office reported that DHS had verified only 185 of those cases and declined to provide further evidence. The White House stated that all cases of potential noncitizen voting would be pursued, while DHS maintained its efforts are conducted diligently and professionally in accordance with the law.