Fact-checking the Trump administration’s count of 250,000 noncitizens on the voter rolls
PolitiFact – Rulings and Stories — 2026-07-17 16:10:00 — www.politifact.com
Trump Pushes Noncitizen Voting Claims Despite Lack of Evidence
President Donald Trump has once again spotlighted noncitizen voting as a major threat to the U.S. election system, despite years of evidence showing such cases are statistically rare and have no impact on election results. In a July 16 primetime address, Trump urged lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require government-issued photo ID and documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote—a measure currently stalled in the Senate over concerns about voter disenfranchisement.
Alongside Trump’s address, the Department of Homeland Security released documents claiming that “over 250,000 non-citizens are illegally registered to vote in just the four states” of California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada. This figure was repeated by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who stated, “We’ve identified 250,000 noncitizens registered to vote in just four states.”
However, voting experts and state officials have urged caution, noting that such numbers are often inflated due to database errors, mistaken identities, and outdated citizenship information. Historically, initial large estimates of noncitizen voters have dropped dramatically after thorough vetting. For example, Florida’s 2012 review started with 180,000 potential noncitizens but ultimately found only 85 after further investigation.
The data cited by Trump and Mullin does not indicate whether any of the identified noncitizens actually voted, nor does it show any impact on election outcomes. Trump’s rhetoric, however, gives the unsupported impression that noncitizen voting is widespread and influential. In reality, violations are “routinely investigated and prosecuted,” but there is “no evidence that noncitizen voting has ever been significant enough to impact an election’s outcome,” according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Officials from the states targeted by the DHS report have expressed skepticism. Nevada’s Secretary of State called the numbers “wildly speculative at best,” and Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State reiterated that noncitizen voting is “extremely rare across the country.”
In summary, Trump continues to promote the narrative of widespread noncitizen voting despite a lack of supporting evidence and repeated findings that such cases are rare and not impactful. The claims about 250,000 noncitizen voters remain unsubstantiated, and experts warn that the real numbers are likely much lower after proper review.
Source: https://www.politifact.com/article/2026/jul/17/Mullin-dhs-250000-noncitizen-voters-Trump/