California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and top election officials in three other states have until July 31 to tell the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) whether they will cooperate with a federal effort to identify and remove alleged noncitizens from state voter rolls.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent letters to the secretaries of state in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania, alleging that more than 250,000 potential noncitizens are registered to vote across the four states.
In an email to California Black Media (CBM), an official from Weber’s office confirmed that the secretary received the July 17 letter and is evaluating its contents.
“We can confirm that we have received the letter from the Department of Homeland Security and are reviewing it,” the July 23 email to CBM stated.
New Jersey Secretary of State Dale Caldwell, Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar and Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt also received letters following President Donald Trump’s July 16 prime-time address on election security.
“Election security is national security,” Mullin stated in the letter. “As President Trump announced, DHS has identified over 250,000 potential non-citizens illegally registered to vote in just 4 U.S. states. Only Americans should be electing American leaders.”
Trump has also alleged that thousands of noncitizens are illegally registered to vote and said an internal review identified potentially ineligible voters across the four states.
The Trump administration has not publicly provided verified evidence supporting its claims, which it has presented as proof of systemic election fraud and interference. Trump has also argued that electronic voting and ballot-counting systems are fundamentally insecure, “dishonest” and vulnerable to manipulation.
“We assess that centralized election-related data repositories, such as voter registration databases, pollbooks, and official election websites, are most vulnerable to exploitation, and adversaries could use access to these systems to disrupt election processes,” Trump said.
Following Trump’s address, Weber issued a statement that she said, “sets the record straight” on his “fallacious election fraud claims” and unsubstantiated allegations about California elections.
“Despite President Trump’s repeated and thoroughly debunked claims, the 2020 election was free, fair, and secure,” Weber stated. “Courts across the country, including judges he appointed, rejected allegations of widespread election fraud.”
Weber added, “Non-citizen voting remains exceedingly rare. In California, election officials work every day to maintain accurate voter rolls and ensure that only eligible voters are registered.”
According to Mullin, preliminary DHS reviews identified as many as 190,832 potential noncitizens registered to vote in California, 35,152 in New Jersey, 15,903 in Nevada and 14,576 in Pennsylvania.
DHS is primarily responsible for border enforcement and administering the nation’s legal immigration system. The department also helps safeguard election infrastructure, including voting machines, voter registration databases and polling places, from physical and cyber threats.
However, DHS does not administer elections. Under the U.S. Constitution, state and local governments oversee the electoral process.
