Trump DHS using unverified figures to attack election officials on non-citizen voting

Homeland Security Secretary Challenges State Election Officials Over Unconfirmed Voter Data

Trump DHS using unverified figures to attack – The Trump administration has intensified its campaign against election administrators across critical swing states. On Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin reinforced assertions that hundreds of thousands of individuals without citizenship status are improperly enrolled to cast ballots. Despite these bold claims, the Department of Homeland Security has internally recognized that the supporting evidence remains largely unverified.

During a press briefing, Mullin reiterated statements initially presented during President Donald Trump’s evening address on Thursday. According to Mullin, federal records indicate approximately 250,000 non-citizens have registered to vote across California, New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania combined. Yet official correspondence sent to these states reveals more cautious language than the public statements suggest.

Unverified Numbers and Legal Pushback

Mullin’s correspondence with Pennsylvania illustrates this discrepancy. The letter acknowledges that the total figure lacks verification, stating there “may be as many as 14,576 non-citizens on the states voter rolls.” However, only 8,594 of those individuals were identified as potential non-citizens through DHS database matching. The correspondence requests Pennsylvania’s cooperation in conducting “collaboratively on identity verification” to improve the reliability of their conclusions.

Simultaneously, the administration is pursuing a broader initiative to compel states to surrender confidential voter registration information. This would enable the Justice Department to conduct comprehensive audits of voter enrollment records nationwide. Bipartisan state election leaders have expressed concerns to CNN that the federal government intends to amplify the perceived scope of non-citizen voting. Such exaggeration could undermine public confidence in upcoming midterm election outcomes, particularly if Republican candidates underperform.

Legal challenges have significantly impeded this data collection effort. More than twelve federal courts have ruled in favor of states declining to release their voter rolls. Additionally, an independent judge determined that the DHS program forming the foundation of these audits operates beyond its statutory authority.

Threats of Prosecution and Official Responses

Mullin publicly criticized that judicial decision on Friday while warning election administrators that non-participation could result in criminal prosecution. “If the election officials – once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections, and they chose not to – then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even, depending on how far it goes, prison,” Mullin declared.

“I’m not intimidated by that at all,” New Hampshire’s Republican Secretary of David Scanlan told CNN Thursday. “I see this is a temper tantrum disguised as an official letter because they have hit roadblocks.”

The Justice Department issued comparable warnings in letters distributed to all fifty states earlier this month. Election officials responded swiftly, with many attending a conference in South Dakota during Trump’s address. Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, echoed Scanlan’s sentiment regarding the administration’s approach.

Idaho’s Republican attorney general’s office issued a pointed rebuttal, stating that the DOJ’s “insinuations of criminal violations of the federal election laws are not well taken.”

Questions About the SAVE System

The federal citizenship verification mechanism employed by DHS—known as SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements)—has historically generated inflated estimates of registered non-citizen voters. DHS itself mandates that states utilizing the program voluntarily for voter list maintenance must conduct additional investigations before accepting matches as definitive.

Mullin omitted this crucial context from his public remarks. Furthermore, he failed to characterize the 250,000 figure as representing potential rather than confirmed non-citizens, which was how DHS framed the number in its original press release announcing the letters to the four states.

“We can affirm that on its face, we refute these claims,” Nevada Democratic Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar told CNN in a statement Friday. “These numbers are wildly speculative at best and the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t shared anything that backs it up.”

While the administration has not disclosed how many of these individuals they believe actually cast ballots, Mullin confirmed that DHS investigators are examining this question. Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a Republican, provided additional perspective on the situation.

“All evidence has shown that noncitizen voting is extremely rare across the country, including in Pennsylvania,” Schmidt said in a statement Thursday night. “While the Department has made clear that we cannot share Pennsylvanians’ private, personal information, we welcome DHS sharing their methodology and list of potential ineligible voters so we can carefully review the validity of their claims.”