DHS chief Mullin refuses to rule out ICE at polls, claims only American citizens should be in line

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended President Donald Trump's push for citizenship checks in federal elections Sunday, claiming DHS was preparing for the 2026 midterms by reviewing voter information and records.

"Well, we’re going to make sure that our Constitution is upheld, meaning that only citizens of the United States are voting," Mullin said to Kasie Hunt on CNN's State of the Union.

When Mullin was asked what DHS planned to do with voter information under Trump’s election order, Mullin said the administration wanted to protect "the integrity of our election."

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Mullin also said the federal election cycle was central to the country and argued that citizenship verification should not be controversial.

"What we want to make sure is that every vote actually counts, that we’re not having games like you might see in sanctuary cities," Mullin said. "I’m not saying they are. I’m just saying, but why wouldn’t we want to make sure that it’s safe?"

Hunt pressed Mullin on the scope of noncitizen voting, citing a Heritage Foundation count of 25 prosecutions for voter fraud cases where citizenship was an issue. Mullin rejected the suggestion that the number was too small to justify action.

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"Twenty-five is 25 too many," Mullin said. "It’s kind of like one illegal death, one individual that dies from the hands of an illegal is one too many. It’s all preventable. One person voting illegally is one too many."

Mullin said DHS wanted the midterms to be viewed as secure and trusted, but he did not identify the states or voter rolls he was referencing when making broader claims about registrations.

"If you start looking and scrubbing some of these rolls, we see thousands of individuals that are registered to vote and that has had mail-out ballots to them," Mullin said.

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The exchange came after Mullin faced questions during his confirmation hearing about whether ICE agents could be positioned near polling places. At the time, he questioned why critics were concerned about immigration enforcement at voting sites.

"I don’t understand what the concern about enforcing immigration at polling places is anyways," Mullin said during the March hearing with lawmakers. "Because, honestly, if you’re not a citizen, you shouldn’t be voting anyways."

Trump signed a March 31 executive order directing DHS, with the Social Security Administration, to compile and transmit state citizenship lists to election officials before federal elections. The White House said the order was aimed at verifying eligibility and securing mail-in and absentee ballot procedures.