Chicago – July 17, 2026
The Trump administration has formally directed election officials in four U.S. states to verify voter registration records for potential non-citizen voters, following renewed claims about election security.reuters+1
DHS Targets Four States
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent letters to secretaries of state in California, New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, citing preliminary Department of Homeland Security reviews that identified more than 250,000 potential non-citizen registrations across these jurisdictions. According to DHS figures, California accounted for approximately 190,832 flagged registrations, followed by New Jersey with 35,152, Nevada with 15,903, and Pennsylvania with 14,576.reuters+1
Administration’s Election Security Push
The request came one day after President Donald Trump’s primetime address on election security, where he renewed unsubstantiated claims about past election interference without providing new evidence of voter fraud. Secretary Mullin stated that “election security is national security” and demanded responses from the four states within two weeks confirming their cooperation with DHS on voter roll verification.reuters+1
Context and Criticism
The announcement aligns with broader Trump administration efforts to scrutinize voter registration systems, though critics note that independent analyses have found non-citizen voting to be exceptionally rare. Previous investigations in states like Georgia revealed that many individuals initially flagged as non-citizen voters were never actually registered to vote.
