DHS concedes noncitizen voter numbers it touted are inflated : NPR
NPR Topics: Politics — 2026-08-25 13:15:00 — www.npr.org
President Trump’s Claims on Noncitizen Voting in Nevada Face Scrutiny from State Officials
More than a month after President Trump claimed in a primetime address that his administration had found over 250,000 noncitizens on the voter rolls of Nevada and three other states, those states are still waiting for proof or even a complete list of the alleged voters federal officials say should be investigated.
Trump’s announcement, which specifically cited Nevada, has prompted state officials to demand evidence supporting the administration’s claims. In a call with Nevada election officials, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) staff detailed their methodology but also undermined the broader claim that American elections are rife with noncitizen voters.
DHS initially said it had found close to 16,000 noncitizens on Nevada’s voter list, but a DHS official later acknowledged that this figure was only “the ceiling” and that each voter would need to be manually reviewed. The next day, DHS provided Nevada with a list of just 185 voter ID numbers it said were “confident” matches for noncitizens. When Nevada asked for more information about these 185 voters and the data points used to match them to noncitizens, DHS declined to provide further details.
The agency also told Nevada it still had more than 14,000 voters needing “additional review” and provided another list of over 6,000 voter IDs it said were “higher confidence” matches, but these had not yet been reviewed. Officials in Pennsylvania, another state mentioned in Trump’s allegations, reported a similar lack of follow-through from DHS after the president’s claims.
An official familiar with the Pennsylvania meeting said, “It was clear that DHS did not have confidence that the numbers they have stated publicly were accurate.” DHS did not address why it publicly touted numbers its own employees acknowledged were inflated.
State election officials in Nevada and California have expressed concern that eligible voters could be wrongly removed from the rolls as a result of what they called the administration’s “fishing expedition for purported non-citizens.” Nevada’s deputy secretary of state for elections, Mark Wlaschin, emphasized the importance of careful vetting to avoid disenfranchising U.S. citizens.
Despite the administration’s public statements, DHS has not provided the data necessary for states to verify or act on the claims. Nevada officials said they were “unable to conduct an analysis without real verifiable information.”
Conclusion
President Trump’s high-profile claims about noncitizen voting in Nevada and other states have not been substantiated by the evidence provided to state officials. DHS has acknowledged that its numbers were inflated and has declined to share the data needed for independent verification. As Election Day approaches, state officials remain wary of removing voters without clear proof, highlighting the risks of making sweeping allegations without supporting facts.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2026/08/25/nx-s1-5940807/noncitizen-voters-trump-nevada-call