Trump Administration Intensifies Federal Crackdown on Noncitizen Voting

Donald Trump has intensified a federal crackdown on noncitizen voting, claiming that such activity is rampant and constitutes a Democratic conspiracy to dilute Republican power. Under his second term, the administration has increased prosecutions and directed the Department of Homeland Security to prioritize the deportation of noncitizen voters.

As part of this effort, the Department of Homeland Security launched voter-fraud investigations into more than 325 people and expanded the use of the SAVE database to flag noncitizens on voter rolls. In Ohio, Secretary of State Frank LaRose partnered with federal authorities to refer 167 suspected noncitizen voters for prosecution. The Department of Justice is responsible for pursuing charges under the 1996 voting-by-aliens statute.

A Reuters analysis of federal court data challenges the scale of the issue, finding only 129 people charged under that statute since its inception, often due to administrative errors rather than fraud. Critics and election officials warn that these tactics may disenfranchise eligible citizens and that the volume of noncitizen voting is too small to impact election results. The use of the SAVE database has also faced conflicting federal court rulings regarding its accuracy.