Homeland Security Secretary Threatens States with Punitive Measures Over Dubious Noncitizen Voter Claims
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Secretary Markwayne Mullin is pressuring state election officials to use a controversial DHS database to check voter eligibility, threatening to strip federal funding and impose criminal penalties, despite serious concerns about civil rights and database errors.
In a move echoing the Trump administration’s ongoing assault on voting rights, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin issued a stark ultimatum to state election officials on Friday: submit your voter rolls to a flawed federal database or face the loss of crucial federal grant funding and possible criminal prosecution. Mullin claimed, without transparent evidence, that the Department of Homeland Security had found over 250,000 so-called 'noncitizens' on voter lists in states like California, New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, and demanded compliance within two weeks.
“If you’re illegal and attempted to vote, or you tried to vote illegally for someone else, we will find you and we will charge you,” Mullin declared from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, further stoking fear and suspicion.
The database in question was never intended for voter verification and has been explicitly barred by a federal judge for such use, citing the risk of exposing Social Security records and the high rate of errors that could wrongly disenfranchise newly naturalized citizens. Voting-rights advocates warn that this tool is unreliable and could purge eligible voters, disproportionately harming marginalized communities.
Mullin doubled down, threatening up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines for so-called illegal voting, and vowed to continue auditing election records for supposed ineligible votes, including those of deceased individuals, before and after the upcoming midterms.
These remarks are part of a broader right-wing campaign to undermine trust in elections, with the Trump administration pushing lawsuits for voter-roll data, issuing intimidating letters from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and reshuffling leadership in agencies tasked with election security.