DHS Chief Mullin: More Than 300,000 Potential Noncitizen Matches Under Review on State Voter Rolls
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says the federal government is now reviewing more than 300,000 potential noncitizen matches on state voter rolls across the country, and the number keeps climbing.
Mullin revealed the latest figure during an appearance on Newsmax, explaining that the total has grown as investigators compare state voter registration lists against federal immigration and citizenship records.
'We Don't Know If They Voted'
The secretary was careful to note what the number does and does not mean. DHS has not yet determined how many of the flagged people actually cast ballots.
"We don't know if they voted," Mullin said, adding that more work is needed before investigators can say whether specific cases involved illegal ballots.
Federal law bars noncitizens from voting in federal elections. Showing up on a registration list is not by itself proof that someone registered illegally or voted.
Arrests and Active Cases
Mullin previously said DHS had about 300,000 records under review and was actively pursuing 1,620 suspected cases of illegal voting by noncitizens. At that point, Homeland Security Investigations had made 151 arrests.
In September, Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that 10 foreign nationals had been indicted in Minnesota on charges of illegal voting or falsely claiming citizenship to register. Blanche said more than 90 people had been charged with voter-related fraud during President Trump's second term, with hundreds more investigations underway.
At that same announcement, Mullin said HSI had made 100 administrative arrests and 53 criminal arrests, securing 37 indictments and 10 convictions tied to illegal voting.
Four States, 250,000 Possible Matches
The new total is up from figures the administration released over the summer as President Trump pushed states to tighten citizenship checks.
In July, DHS said preliminary reviews showed as many as 250,000 potential noncitizens could be registered in just four states. That included up to 190,832 in California, 35,152 in New Jersey, 15,903 in Nevada and 14,576 in Pennsylvania.
Another 28,000 potential matches turned up after 25 cooperating states ran about 68 million registration records through the federal SAVE verification system.
Mullin has described the process bluntly. "We're scrubbing them," he said in September, explaining how states are handing over voter lists for comparison.
State Officials Push Back
The numbers have sparked a fight with election officials in both parties. Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, a Democrat, called the federal estimates "wildly speculative."
Pennsylvania's Al Schmidt, a Republican, said evidence has consistently shown noncitizen voting is extremely rare, though he promised to review what federal officials provide. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber also questioned the methods while saying the state would look at legitimate information.
Critics warn that database comparisons can produce false positives by flagging naturalized citizens, people with similar names or those whose immigration records are out of date. In 2012, Florida flagged about 180,000 potential noncitizens, a number that shrank to fewer than 100 after closer review.
Why It Matters
The confirmed prosecutions so far are far smaller than the hundreds of thousands of records under review, and each name needs to be checked individually.
But for millions of Americans who want to know their elections are clean, the sheer size of the list is reason enough to keep checking. With the midterms here, the administration says it has no plans to slow down.