GOP-led states go on the offensive, hunting down foreigners on voter rolls, much to Harris’ chagrin

Three Republican-led states have launched an offensive against the Biden administration, suing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over access to information to verify the citizenship status of registered voters. So far, the Biden/Harris White House is hampering efforts to keep voters honest.

As the Biden administration sues states and cities across the country in an attempt to thwart election integrity measures ahead of the presidential election, the states of Ohio, Florida and Texas are going on the offensive, suing DHS to gain access to a database that identifies non-citizens on voter rolls.

The Department of Justice has sued Alabama and Virginia for attempting to remove non-citizens from the voter rolls less than 90 days before the elections. However, because Ohio, Florida and Texas maintain their voter rolls, states have filed lawsuits against DHS to further identify and remove non-citizens from voter registration rolls.

DHS refuses to cooperate

Federal law allows U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections, something all three states noted in their lawsuits against DHS. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (right) sued DHS on Thursday, alleging that the agency thwarted his efforts to find and remove non-citizens from his state’s voter rolls.

The lawsuit alleges that DHS on at least four occasions denied Ohio access to federal citizenship verification records to identify non-citizens on the voter rolls.

In July, LaRose first requested DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “for access to federal databases and search tools, including the Person Centric Query Service (“PCQS”), to ensure that Ohio can verify the citizenship of certain registered voters whose citizenship may be the subject of a dispute,” according to the lawsuit.

Ohio uses the DHS Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, which identifies noncitizens based on “specific immigration identification numbers (such as an alien registration number) that states like Ohio rarely have.” – the lawsuit states.

However, “PCQS draws on a much broader range of identifying information, making it much easier for government officials to confirm citizenship status without having to use one of those unique immigration identifiers that states rarely have.” the lawsuit says.

“I took an oath to uphold our state’s constitution, and that document expressly requires that only citizens of the United States be eligible to vote in Ohio elections.” LaRose said in a statement on Thursday. “The Biden-Harris administration is obstructing and abusing its power to prevent us from removing non-citizens from the voter rolls. I take my responsibilities seriously, so if they want to fight for the integrity of our elections, they have it.”

“While the administration blocks access to these records, the Department of Justice is suing or threatening to sue multiple states, including Ohio, that attempt to enforce their citizenship voting requirements,” he added. he added. “It’s probably not a coincidence. The same administration that has presided over the most reckless and leaky immigration policy in our country’s history is intentionally preventing states from protecting the integrity of their elections.”

In September, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, D-Ohio sent a letter to Mayorkas demanding information about why DHS did not comply with LaRose’s demands for federal citizenship information.

Earlier this month, sixteen attorneys general, led by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson (R), he called Mayorkas providing federal citizenship verification records to verify voter registration.

“The Department of Homeland Security has an obligation to work with states to verify voter registration information upon request.” we read in the letter. “This cooperation with federal states is mandatory, not optional.”

Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming joined the list.

In recent months, non-citizen voters have been identified and charged in Ohio. Last week, six of the nearly 140 people LaRose cited for voting illegally they were accused for electoral fraud.

Five of the indictments involved lawful permanent residents of the U.S. without citizenship. The sixth involved a foreign national who was charged with voting in 2014, 2016 and 2018. Only two of the indictments related to the 2020 election.

In May, LaRose directed all 88 counties to begin the process of removing non-Ohioans from Ohio’s voter rolls following an audit by his office’s Public Integrity Division and the Office of Data Analysis and Archives. The review analyzed data from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and found 137 non-U.S. voter registrations that twice certified as not being U.S. citizens. In August, LaRose ordered county elections officials on Thursday to remove another one 499 foreigners registered to vote from state voter rolls.

Before the Ohio lawsuit Florida sued DHS two days after a letter from 16 state attorneys general was sent to Mayorkas.

The the state claims in the lawsuit, the Florida Department of State (FDOS) “identified a number of individuals for whom FDOS had evidence of non-citizenship, but could not conduct searches in the SAVE database because FDOS did not have unique immigration identifiers for these individuals.”

Feds refuse to verify citizenship when voting

The lawsuit says DHS allegedly denied Florida’s request for federal citizenship documents. However, the agency is “required” under federal law to “provide this information to Florida.” – the lawsuit states.

Meanwhile, Texas sued DHS last week after trying to get the agency to check the citizenship of about 450,000 voters.

DHS allegedly denied the state’s request for information, which Texas says is a violation of federal law.

“The Biden-Harris administration has refused to comply with federal law, which is yet another hurdle Texas must overcome to ensure free and fair elections in our state.” – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said in a statement.. “The law requires that important citizenship information be provided to nearly half a million potentially ineligible voters. Because the Biden-Harris administration has chosen to ignore the law, I will see them in court.”

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

In August, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced that over 1 million ineligible voters have been removed from the voter rolls from 2021. More than 6,500 people were found among them who were not citizens of the country, of which approximately 1,930 voted anyway. The records of these 1,930 voters were sent to Paxton’s office from the Secretary of State’s office for investigation.