During a primetime election integrity speech to the nation on Thursday, President Donald Trump announced that the Department of Homeland Security had identified at least 278,000 non-U.S. citizens who were illegally registered to vote in federal elections.
The speech covered what Trump called “five major areas of concern” regarding election security, primary among them being China compromising American election data.
However, there was also the allegation that over a quarter of a million illegal non-citizen voters were on the rolls, according to a DHS investigation.
“We are releasing the results of a stunning investigation by the Department of Homeland Security,” Trump said.
“According to the DHS review, state voter rolls, and public records, they identified approximately 278,000 non-citizens who are registered to vote in federal elections,” Trump said.
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“Since Democrat states refused to share their voter files, the real number is actually much higher than that,” Trump added.
It is unclear from Trump’s remarks how many of those individuals, if identified by DHS, have actually cast a ballot.
While a limited number of locales in three states and the District of Columbia allow non-citizens to vote in local elections, non-citizens are prohibited by federal law from voting in federal elections.
In addition, a large number of Republican-controlled states specifically ban non-citizen voting, even locally.
However, Trump said that “even this limited analysis found more than a quarter of a million foreigners illegally registered to vote.”
“Put together, these disclosures reveal a system so broken and vulnerable that nobody can possibly defend it,” Trump said.
Later in the address, Trump said that he had “ordered DHS to notify every state about non-citizens on their voter rolls and direct them to remove all ineligible voters from the lists immediately.”
Trump also urged passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act, which would mandate tougher election security measures nationwide, including showing voter ID.
During the speech, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said the quarter of a million ineligible voters was proof it was “more important than ever to crush foreign election interference” and pass the bill.
Democrats have repeatedly blocked the bill in the Senate — and on Wednesday, anti-Trump Republican lame-duck Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina indicated he would block any effort to pass the bill.
“If I see a reconciliation bill come from the House with another failed attempt to confuse this election, I will use every device I have available to slow down the wheels of government until people cop a clue and do the math,” Tillis said.
This article originally appeared on The Western Journal and is reposted with permission.
