Federal hunt for noncitizen voting produces scant evidence and a trail of overblown claims
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A federal review of voter rolls has turned up only a limited number of possible noncitizen registrations, yielding about 160 arrests and a small number of criminal cases — a far cry from the hundreds of thousands once loudly alleged.
The administration has escalated its review of voter registration data in a bid to root out noncitizen voters, yet the campaign has produced only a fraction of the numbers first trumpeted. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin initially claimed 250,000 noncitizens were on voter rolls in four Democratic-led states, but later "high-confidence" matches and additional analysis have whittled those figures down substantially.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it has reviewed more than 100 million voter records nationwide and identified 300,000 "potential" noncitizens. By mid-September, DHS had opened 1,620 investigations and reported roughly 160 arrests, a mix of criminal charges and immigration proceedings. > "The number of arrests of aliens who unlawfully registered and voted continues to increase daily as the Trump Administration enforces the law," a DHS spokesperson told CNN, even as the actual tally remains modest compared with the rhetoric.
Justice Department prosecutors have pursued only a narrow set of cases. In California, acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter announced two dozen criminal cases alleging illegal voting, while the state’s Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office has issued about 300 grand-jury subpoenas since August. Overall, only 23 cases have been filed in California during the current term, and similar or smaller numbers have been reported in other states. Most defendants are legal permanent residents charged with false statements on naturalization forms rather than direct voting violations.
Analysts note that many of the matches come from unreliable data-matching tools such as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE). The tool compares voter lists with federal immigration records, but its initial matches frequently collapse after state officials actually verify citizenship status. In Texas, an initial list of 2,724 potential noncitizens was reduced by more than 500 after adding passport data, and further verification confirmed most individuals as citizens. Similar verification in Arizona reduced an alleged 137 noncitizen voters to eight after state review.
Election officials and experts say prosecutions are hard to sustain because intent must be proven, and software glitches can mistakenly place noncitizens on voter rolls. While the federal effort continues, the number of confirmed cases remains far below the sweeping claims used to stoke fears about election integrity.