300,000 Potential Noncitizens, 160 Arrests: The Gap in Federal Election Enforcement

The Department of Homeland Security has identified 300,000 potential noncitizens on voter rolls across the United States. As of mid-September, that review has generated 1,620 investigations and approximately 160 arrests. Those arrests include both criminal charges and administrative immigration proceedings. The numbers stand in contrast to initial claims that hundreds of thousands of foreigners were tainting elections.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced in July that his agency had found 250,000 noncitizens in four Democratic-led states. He sent letters to California, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and New Jersey that month. The administration has since refined its data, providing states with smaller lists of high-confidence matches. A government attorney told a court this week that more than 800 DHS employees are now processing these data-matching efforts.

The Justice Department handles the prosecutions arising from DHS investigations. Last week, officials in California announced two dozen criminal cases accusing noncitizens of illegally voting. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter stated that the agency is conducting a rolling review of 20,000 individuals. He noted that 23 cases in California during President Donald Trump’s second term suggest the impact of unlawful votes is smaller than previously alleged. Most defendants in these cases are legal permanent residents who have lived in the United States for decades.

The administration relies on the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, system to compare voter records with federal immigration data. The White House expanded the tool this year, allowing states to upload entire voter lists for review. Texas was among the first states to use the expanded version. An initial review suggested 2,724 noncitizens were on the state’s rolls. That number dropped by more than 500 after passport data was added, and further declines occurred as local officials verified eligibility with state records.

In Maricopa, Arizona, County Recorder Justin Heap reviewed 60,000 records affected by a DMV software glitch. SAVE identified 137 potential noncitizens in that group. Heap announced that 60 of those individuals had voted in recent elections. County Attorney Rachel Mitchell later confirmed that 52 of the 60 were actually citizens. This verification process reduced the number of potential cases by nearly half before prosecution began.

Wren Orey, managing director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Elections Project, said the evidence does not support the claim that noncitizen voting is happening at scale. She noted that cases often fall apart upon closer examination of the numbers. Ryan Germany, a former investigator for the Georgia Secretary of State, added that SAVE matches require significant manpower to verify. He explained that the delta between initial matches and confirmed noncitizens is substantial.

The administration continues to press for more verification in Democratic-led states. A DOJ spokesperson told CNN that every illegal registration will be investigated. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office has received approximately 300 grand jury subpoenas since August. The state maintains that post-election procedures exist for scrutinizing close contests. The Justice Department argues that close elections are not rare and that every illegal ballot cancels the vote of a citizen.