By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor
(Worthy News) – Former President Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson have raised the alarm about non-citizens voting in U.S. elections, citing the border crisis.
They did so after Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this week that his policies were impacting U.S. elections and after Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, reintroduced a bill to require proof of citizenship to vote.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas took issue with his concern saying it was “nothing short of preposterous.”
Johnson said House Republicans were also introducing a bill to require proof of citizenship to vote ahead of the November election and Trump demanded that the U.S. border be immediately closed.
At a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said, “I would like to demand that our border be closed because we have millions of people coming into our country. Millions and millions of people are pouring in at levels that nobody’s reporting … including terrorists.”
He reiterated a claim he made in Texas nearly three years ago that Central and South American countries were opening their prisons and violent criminals were illegally entering the country. “They come from jails and prisons,” he said. “They come from mental institutions and insane asylums. They come from all over the world, not just South America. … Venezuela announced that their crime is down 67% because of the fact that they’ve taken the gang members … and they’ve deposited them very nicely into the United States of America. … It’s happening with countries all over Africa, Asia, South America, all over the world.”
He also said President Joe Biden “should close the border immediately. He needs no legislation … He doesn’t need anybody. He can do it. I did it without any legislation. I had the best border we’ve had in ever recorded history,” citing policies he implemented like Remain in Mexico and ending the Obama-era catch and release policy.
“I just demand as a citizen, I demand the border has to be closed,” he continued. “Our country cannot take it. No country could take it. It’s not sustainable by any country.”
Both Trump and Johnson raised concerns about noncitizens illegally entering the country and then voting in U.S. elections.
“Election integrity is tied to border,” Johnson said. “Why is that? You need to understand something really important about federal law since 1993. The National Voter Registration Act, we call it the Motor Voter law, allows people to sign up to vote when they get a driver’s license. If an individual only asserts or simply states that they are a citizen, they don’t have to prove it. They can register that person to vote in a federal election.”
He also said states are “currently prohibited from asking someone to prove they’re a citizen. The federal voter registration form just has a check box, and if you do that, you’re good. … We think that’s a serious problem.
“It seems like common sense. I’m sure all of us would agree. We only want U.S. citizens to vote in U.S. elections, but there are some Democrats who don’t want to do that … because they want to turn these people into voters.
Because there is such a great number of illegal foreign nationals getting driver’s licenses and going on welfare, he said, “There’s so many millions of illegals in the country that if only one out of a hundred voted, they would cast potentially hundreds of thousands of votes in the election that could turn an election.”
He said noncitizens voting could turn congressional races and impact the presidential election. House Republicans “will do everything within our power to ensure that we do have free and fair elections in this country. If we don’t have that in a constitutional republic, we have nothing. It’s the basis of who we are as a nation, and we owe that to the American people.”
He described election integrity measures the House would pass that incorporate provisions of bills filed by Rep. Roy. They include the Save Act, which amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in U.S. elections. Another bill requires DHS and the Social Security Administration to provide information to state election officials to verify citizenship status and requires states to remove noncitizens from official lists of eligible voters.
A recent Rasmussen Reports poll found that 82% of U.S. voters surveyed said illegal foreign nationals should not be allowed to vote in the U.S. elections; 78% said it was important to prevent them from voting in U.S. elections.
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