State conservatives demand action on noncitizen voting: ‘Time for Congress to listen’
FIRST ON FOX: Conservatives in states across the U.S. are urging Congress to take action on legislation to crack down on noncitizen voting in federal elections amid continued concerns about how widespread the practice may be.
Twelve state chairs of their respective State Freedom Caucuses, part of the State Freedom Caucus Network, are writing to members of Congress and urging them to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.
"Illegal immigration was a top electoral issue for millions of voters and their message was heard loud and clear with the election of Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United States. Now it’s time for Congress to listen," they say in a letter to lawmakers, obtained first by Fox News Digital.
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That bill, re-introduced recently in the House and Senate by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, requires states to obtain documentary proof of U.S. citizenship and identity in person when registering an individual to vote. It also requires states to establish a program to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls, and allows citizens to bring suits against officials that fail to uphold the law.
While only citizens can vote in federal elections, Republicans have claimed that it is impossible to enforce because noncitizens and illegal immigrants are eligible for driver’s licenses and other benefits in states, which can lead them to being registered to vote.
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Those fears have been stoked by the border crisis, which exploded in 2021 and only subsided last year. Multiple states have also announced the purging of thousands of noncitizens from voter rolls. Critics of the push have said that actual voting by noncitizens is extremely rare and already illegal. But the chairs raised concerns about the migrant surge and a push to increase voter registration.
"We have a massive surge of illegal aliens in our population in addition to the more than 20 million noncitizens already living in our country, no oversight of where they are or what they are doing, and a government-wide mandate to encourage voter registration without proper safeguards," the state chairs say.
The State Freedom Caucus Network launched in 2021 with the backing of the House Freedom Caucus and has expanded into multiple states. The network helps state-level caucuses set up and work to keep their state parties in line with conservative principles in a similar way to the House Freedom Caucus.
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In statements to Fox, the chairs made it clear that they saw the issue of noncitizen voting as an important one for their state.
"SC voters want to feel like the ballot box is secure," South Carolina Freedom Caucus Chairman Jordan Pace said. "The SCFC has repeatedly introduced bills and amendments to accomplish this by barring tax dollars from being spent to provide voter forms to non-citizens, by closing the primaries, and by increasing hand-counted audits of elections. Thus far, the moderates in the House have blocked us at every turn."
Arizona Freedom Caucus Chairman Jake Hoffman pointed to a bill in the state he introduced that became law in 2022 and rejects forms not accompanied by proof of citizenship.
"However, we need the SAVE Act's fixes in federal law to eliminate illegal registration of noncitizens under the color of law by using the federal form to register," he said.
The push comes as Congress zeroes in on issues related to illegal immigration, with both chambers of Congress now held by the GOP and with President-elect Trump soon to be inaugurated.
Earlier this month, the Laken Riley Act passed the House and advanced in the Senate with Democratic backing. That bill demands the detention of illegal immigrants charged with theft-related crimes.