Homeland Security Secretary Pushes Dubious Claims of Non-Citizen Voters to Justify Voter Suppression
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Markwayne Mullin alleges, without transparency or credible evidence, that up to 250,000 non-citizens are registered to vote in four states. Experts and state officials denounce the claim as exaggerated and unsupported, warning it fuels anti-immigrant hysteria and voter suppression.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters that a federal analysis supposedly identified as many as 250,000 non-citizens registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada. However, the administration has refused to release the data or explain the methodology, raising serious concerns about transparency and intent. Mullin also claimed an additional 28,000 non-citizens were found in 23 other states that have shared voter data with the federal government, further stoking fears without evidence.
Election-integrity experts immediately criticized the estimate, noting it relies on commercial databases notorious for generating false positives. David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, emphasized that the data likely includes many eligible voters, and removing them could violate their rights and the law.
Officials in the four states targeted by Mullin’s claims pushed back forcefully. Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt stated that the state’s rolls are regularly updated and that non-citizen voting is “extremely rare.” Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar dismissed the numbers as “wildly speculative” and pointed out the lack of supporting evidence. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said the state would review the methodology but expressed deep skepticism about its reliability.
Federal law already bars non-citizens from voting in federal elections, and only a handful of local jurisdictions allow non-citizen participation in municipal contests. Previous audits in other states have found only a handful of non-citizens on voter rolls, and confirmed cases of non-citizen voting remain exceedingly rare.
These unsubstantiated claims emerge as part of the Trump administration’s broader campaign to restrict voting rights, including executive orders and lawsuits seeking intrusive voter-registration data from states. Courts have repeatedly blocked these measures, finding that the administration exceeded its authority and threatened the fundamental right to vote.