Watchdog Sues DHS For Evidence Behind Sec. Mullin’s Claim of 250,000 Noncitizen Voters

American Oversight today filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seeking records showing the basis for DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s claim that his department identified 250,000 noncitizens registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada. The suit follows DHS’s failure to respond to two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on the subject that the nonpartisan watchdog submitted in August.

At a July 17 news conference, Mullin announced the questionable figure without providing any supporting evidence, claiming it included 190,832 purported noncitizens in California, 35,152 in New Jersey, 15,903 in Nevada, and 14,576 in Pennsylvania. A White House official explained the number was “based on an analysis of commercial databases,” and PolitiFact reported that the comparison relied on commercial data lacking identifiers such as driver’s license or Social Security numbers. While DHS publicly stated that more than 250,000 noncitizens “are illegally registered to vote,” the letters Mullin sent to secretaries of state speculated only that there “may be as many as” that number. The same day, DHS threatened states with fines and charges over election matters.

The letters received bipartisan pushback from election officials questioning the truth of DHS’ claims. Election experts warned that matching voter rolls against commercial data without reliable identifiers would “create a lot of false matches,” putting eligible voters at risk of being wrongly flagged.

In Nevada, Secretary Mullin’s claim has reportedly completely fallen apart under scrutiny. After he said as many as 15,903 noncitizens were registered to vote there, DHS officials sent the state a much smaller list of names it said it had confirmed were not U.S. citizens. On September 22, Nevada told the department that every one of them was a citizen.

“If the past is prologue, every American should be deeply concerned that Secretary Mullin is using his office to manufacture a pretext for interfering in our elections,” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight. “DHS’s claims have already unraveled in at least one state. And we’ve seen this administration’s playbook before: use unsupported allegations of fraud to pressure election officials and undermine public confidence in election results. If DHS has evidence to back up its claims, it should show the American people the receipts. Until then, we’ll keep fighting for the facts and against any attempt to use baseless accusations to infringe on Americans’ fundamental right to vote.”

On August 21, American Oversight submitted two FOIA requests to DHS seeking all records reflecting the information and documentation relied upon to determine that 250,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in the four states, as well as any talking points prepared by or provided to the department regarding Mullin’s statement. DHS acknowledged both requests on August 31 but has not produced any records or issued a determination. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asks the court to order DHS to conduct an adequate search and promptly release all non-exempt responsive records.

The public has a right to know the basis for DHS’ claims and how the agency has used them to pressure states to hand over their voter rolls. The lawsuit builds on American Oversight’s ongoing investigations into the Trump administration’s efforts to interfere in free and fair elections, including its investigation into DHS’s overhaul of the SAVE system, its lawsuit against ICE and DOJ over the collection and sharing of voter data, and its investigation into USCIS’s “Unlawful Voter Initiative.”