Trump’s Noncitizen Voting Claims Fuel Election Integrity Debate

POLICY WIRE — Washington, D.C. — President Donald Trump and his allies are increasingly vocal about the alleged threat of noncitizen voting as the November election draws closer.

Trump is advocating for the U.S. Postal Service to send mail ballots exclusively to verified U.S. citizens. This push follows a controversial Census Bureau report suggesting thousands of noncitizens voted in the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

The Department of Homeland Security has claimed, without providing evidence, that approximately 250,000 noncitizens could be registered to vote in four states. This week, the Republican candidate for governor in Maine revealed plans to request U.S. marshals and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at polling places to ensure only legal voters participate.

White House spokesperson Lauren Bis stated that evidence of noncitizen voting is accumulating, referencing the census report. However, voting by noncitizens is exceedingly rare and constitutes a felony, potentially leading to deportation.

Critics argue that Trump’s emphasis on this issue is a strategy to challenge election outcomes he may not favor during the midterms, where control of Congress is at stake. Alexandra Chandler from the Democracy Project urged dismissing these claims as pretexts for future disruptions.

The census report, cited by Trump on Truth Social, initially suggested 24,000 noncitizens voted illegally in 2020, based on a commercially available voter file checked against federal records. Experts caution that the methodology may have produced false positives due to errors like incorrect address links or outdated citizenship statuses in databases.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s letter to California, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, alleging up to 250,000 noncitizens were registered, faced skepticism. California’s secretary of state, Shirley Weber, questioned the reliability of the data, while New Jersey disclosed about 6,600 noncitizens were improperly registered through its motor vehicle system.

Trump continues to pressure Republican senators to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, requiring documented proof of citizenship for voter registration, despite millions lacking easy access to such records. The bill has passed the GOP-led House but faces skepticism in the Senate.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles signaled increased attention on the issue following the arrest of a Honduran national for fraudulent voter registration. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli warned of more arrests to come, highlighting the ongoing concern over noncitizen voting.

Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)