Homeland Security Secretary Cracks Down on Noncitizen Voting, Warns States of Severe Penalties
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Secretary Markwayne Mullin is taking decisive action to protect election integrity, ordering state officials to use a DHS database to root out noncitizen voters and warning that failure to comply will result in loss of federal funds and criminal charges.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is leading the charge to safeguard America’s elections, issuing a firm warning to state election officials on Friday: use the Department of Homeland Security’s federal database to identify noncitizens on your voter rolls, or risk losing vital federal grant funding and facing criminal prosecution. Mullin revealed that DHS had already found over 250,000 noncitizens registered to vote in California, New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, and demanded states act within two weeks to uphold the law.
“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 said, sending a clear message from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
The database, originally designed for immigration benefit assessments, has faced resistance from activist judges and left-wing groups who fear exposing Social Security records and claim the system is prone to errors—concerns that often serve as a smokescreen for lax enforcement. Critics argue that the tool could misclassify newly naturalized citizens, but the real threat is the potential for ineligible voters to undermine the democratic process.
Mullin emphasized that illegal voter registration and voting could result in up to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000, underscoring the seriousness of these crimes. He pledged that DHS would continue to audit election records for ineligible votes, including those cast by deceased individuals, both before and after the midterm elections.
Mullin’s remarks align with the Trump administration’s broader efforts to restore faith in the electoral system, including legal action to obtain voter-roll data, strong warnings from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and leadership changes to ensure election security agencies are committed to rooting out fraud.