Washington — On Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin reiterated President Trump's claim that more than 250,000 non-citizens are registered to vote in four states: California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada. These states have not complied with the administration's requests to provide voter data to the federal government.

Mullin also stated that in 23 other states cooperating with the Trump administration and using an updated centralized federal database, an additional 28,000 non-citizens were registered to vote. The estimate of 250,000 non-citizen registered voters in the four states was based on an analysis of commercial databases, according to a White House official.

However, election experts caution that this method likely produces false positives, significantly inflating the number of potential non-citizens on voter rolls. David Becker, executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, told CBS News, "I guarantee you, that data includes a ton of people, maybe even a majority of people, who are absolutely eligible voters, and states would probably be breaking the law if they remove those voters from the rolls."

The Center for Election Innovation and Research has found that allegations of non-citizens voting or registering to vote often stem from misunderstandings, mischaracterizations, or outright fabrications about complex voter data. When these claims are investigated, the number of alleged non-citizen voters typically decreases.

Pennsylvania officials noted that all evidence shows non-citizen voting is extremely rare in their state and across the country but said they would review any information provided by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to evaluate the claims.

President Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the 2020 election was "rigged" against him. Dozens of lawsuits seeking to overturn election results in key battleground states were dismissed, and the Justice Department found no evidence of widespread fraud at the time.

For the 2024 general election, the Election Assistance Commission reported more than 211 million active registered voters nationwide, with over 158 million ballots cast and counted.

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Notable Quotes

"I guarantee you, that data includes a ton of people, maybe even a majority of people, who are absolutely eligible voters, and states would probably be breaking the law if they remove those voters from the rolls," — David Becker

"Appear to arise from misunderstandings, mischaracterizations, or outright fabrications about complex voter data." — Center for Election Innovation and Research

"All evidence has shown that noncitizen voting is extremely rare across the country, including in Pennsylvania." — Pennsylvania officials

"But he said the state will review any information provided by DHS to evaluate its claims."

"Confirm their intentions to collaborate with DHS in order to ensure free, fair, and honest elections."