The top prosecutor in Texas has launched a sweeping investigation into potential voter fraud by noncitizens living in the state.
More than 100 suspected noncitizens allegedly cast over 200 ballots in the 2022 and 2020 election cycles, according to a Tuesday announcement by Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The announcement follows an ongoing investigation by the attorney general’s office into potential noncitizen voting in the 2024 election cycle, discoveries he previously said were made possible because of the Trump administration. (RELATED: ICE Declares Illegal Migrants Ineligible For Bond Hearings)
“Illegal aliens and foreign nationals must not be allowed to influence Texas elections by casting illegal ballots with impunity,” Paxton, who is currently vying to be the state’s next U.S. senator, said in a public statement. “I will not allow it to continue.”
“Thanks to President Trump’s decisive action to help states safeguard the ballot box, this investigation will help Texas hold noncitizens accountable for unlawfully voting in American elections,” Paxton continued. “If you’re a noncitizen who illegally cast a ballot, you will face the full force of the law.”
TOPSHOT – Voters fill out their ballots at a polling station in New York City on Election Day, November 5, 2024. (Photo by Leonardo Munoz / AFP) (Photo by LEONARDO MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images)
Most of the suspected unlawful ballots were cast in Harris County, Texas, according to Paxton. However, his office is also investigating possible instances of noncitizen voting in Cameron, Eastland and Guadalupe counties, per the Texas Secretary of State.
The announcement was the latest in the Republican prosecutor’s efforts to root out foreign participation in U.S. elections.
In June, Paxton opened investigations into 33 potential noncitizens suspected of voting in the 2024 general election, following a referral from the Texas Secretary of State. Texas officials say these discoveries were a direct result of the Trump administration allowing easier access to a federal database that helps identify an individual’s citizenship or immigration status.
Following President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Texas officials were able to access the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, an online service program administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that permits various government agencies to verify the immigration status or U.S. naturalization of applicants seeking benefits or licenses.
The Lone Star State was able to access the SAVE database after Trump signed an executive order in March directing the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of USCIS, to offer the database free of charge to every state to protect election integrity, according to Paxton’s office.
“Gaining access to this database has been a game-changer,” Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson said in a prepared statement in June. “Not only have we been able to identify individuals who should not have voted in the last election, we have also been able to confirm naturalization of dozens more.”
The Republican president prioritized reforms to keep noncitizens out of U.S. elections since returning to office. In March, Trump signed Executive Order 14248, Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections, which aims to protect voting systems from fraud, systemic error and foreign influence.
USCIS recently unveiled a new partnership with the Social Security Administration to ensure “a single, reliable source for verifying immigration status and U.S. citizenship,” according to a memo previously obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The Trump administration has also actively gone after localities believed not to have purged voter rolls of noncitizens.
In June, federal prosecutors sued Orange County, California, for allegedly not handing over all documentation proving election officials are actively removing noncitizens from their voter registration lists. A month earlier, the administration sued North Carolina and its Board of Elections for allegedly failing to maintain a voter registration list compliant with federal laws.
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