DHS put every non-citizen in the country on notice June 9: cast an illegal ballot in an American election and face deportation, no criminal conviction required.
Department of Homeland Security General Counsel James Percival issued a directive Monday instructing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to pursue removal of any alien, legal resident or not, who votes in an American election without being a citizen. The order relies on existing provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which already requires removal of aliens who vote illegally or falsely claim U.S. citizenship to register to vote. DHS confirmed the directive in an official press release on June 9.
The enforcement tool is sharper than many may expect. A criminal conviction is not required to trigger removal proceedings under the INA provisions Percival cited. That means any alien, from an undocumented border crosser to a legal permanent resident, who casts a ballot in a federal election faces deportation on the strength of immigration law alone. The directive translates into enforcement practice President Trump's March 2025 executive order on election integrity, which called on federal agencies to apply existing election laws with more force.
The directive arrives as the broader legislative push for election security has stalled. The SAVE Act, which would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, failed in the Senate on June 4 when a procedural amendment from Sen. Lindsey Graham needed 60 votes and fell well short, according to NPR. Four Republican senators, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell, and Thom Tillis, joined every Democrat to block the measure in a 48-50 vote. With that legislative avenue closed, the administration is leaning on the enforcement authority already on the books.
Mahady Sacko, a 50-year-old Mauritanian national living in Philadelphia, illustrates why the administration considers the threat concrete. ICE arrested Sacko in March after federal records showed he had allegedly voted in seven federal elections since 2008, including the 2024 general election, according to a DHS press release. An immigration judge had ordered Sacko deported to Mauritania in 2000, and the Board of Immigration Appeals upheld the order in 2002. He stayed anyway, for more than two decades, and was later placed under ICE supervision. He now faces federal charges for allegedly voting illegally and falsely claiming U.S. citizenship to register, charges that carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison if convicted.
Cases like Sacko's have added urgency to the administration's push to codify enforcement through formal directives. DHS has brought charges against multiple noncitizens for illegal voting in recent months, and the pattern of cases has underscored how existing systems can allow unlawful voting to go undetected for years.
States Are Finding Noncitizens on the Rolls
The scale of the underlying problem gives the Percival directive real weight. The Daily Signal reported on June 9 that at least seven states have identified noncitizens on their voter registration lists by cross-referencing state voter rolls against the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, known as SAVE. The findings span the country. In Utah, a state audit found 27 noncitizens on the rolls, roughly half of whom had cast ballots. Montana identified 23 voter records tied to noncitizens, with approximately 150 ballots cast by those individuals. In New Jersey, the Republican National Committee and the state Republican Party found hundreds of noncitizen registrations after requesting voter lists across 21 counties, according to the Daily Signal.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has moved the furthest among the states, with his office prosecuting three noncitizens for casting ballots, including one who had run for and won a local mayoral seat. Kobach has argued for years that citizenship verification on voter rolls is essential, not optional.
The combined effect of the state-level findings and the Percival directive creates a new enforcement environment. With the SAVE Act stalled in the Senate, the administration's memo is the primary federal instrument now in play. Whether immigrant advocacy groups mount legal challenges or individual states expand their own audits will shape how the policy develops. The Justice Department has signaled continued interest in election fraud prosecutions, and more charges are likely as voter roll cross-referencing spreads to additional states. The fight over who belongs on an American ballot is moving from Capitol Hill to the courts and the field offices of ICE.
Also read: House advances $70 billion ICE funding bill after conservative holdouts flip • GOP senators back DHS threat to pull customs officers from sanctuary airports • Federal Judge Tosses Trump's $100K H-1B Visa Fee as Unconstitutional Tax
