'We Will Find You': DHS Vows To Deport Noncitizen Voters as States Challenge Flawed Federal Lists

Days before Tuesday's midterm elections, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has vowed to find, charge, and deport non-citizens who vote illegally, as armed agents question residents at home and several states challenge the federal voter lists driving the sweep.

DHS general counsel James Percival delivered the warning during a weekend appearance on 'My View with Lara Trump,' telling non-citizens that 'whether it's now or later, if you illegally cast a vote, we will find you, we will charge you, and we will deport you.' He said more than 200 people have been charged in connection with alleged non-citizen voting offences. His warning follows a June directive instructing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to assist with deportations of suspected non-citizen voters.

The Gap Between the Sweep and the Charges

DHS has alleged that as many as 250,000 non-citizens may be registered, a claim election experts dispute.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) reported 113 people charged with illegal voting or registration offences across 20 states in seven weeks, against more than 227 million registered voters during the 2024 election.

DHS says it is reviewing 300,000 potential cases against state voter rolls. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin cited 151 arrests and 1,620 investigations, figures covering different stages of the enforcement drive. Election-fraud prosecutions have remained rare for decades, a point critics raise against the scale of the current operation.

States Reject the Federal Lists

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs challenged a federal list identifying more than 400 suspected non-citizen voters, saying it included US citizens and contained 'several glaring deficiencies.' The findings raised fresh questions about the accuracy of federal voter registration data.

In Nevada, DHS initially flagged nearly 16,000 possible non-citizens but later identified only 185 potential matches, without establishing illegal voting. Hobbs said his state logged just five voter-fraud cases among 90 million ballots cast between 2008 and 2025, a record that contrasts with federal claims.

Armed Agents at the Door

The enforcement drive has reached ordinary doorsteps. In California, the Justice Department charged 28 green-card holders over alleged election offences, with 11 arrested during a statewide operation.

Among those arrested, a 72-year-old Belize-born resident was taken from his home in his pyjamas, accused of voting illegally in four elections. ICE, through its Homeland Security Investigations arm, reassigned hundreds of agents from cross-border investigations to voter inquiries in at least six states.

A US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) whistle-blower said staff were given quotas to review 40 people a day.

A federal judge has temporarily barred officials from threatening California election workers over ballot processing.

What Tuesday's Voters Face

Civil-rights advocates warn the show of force could frighten eligible voters, including naturalised citizens, away from the polls. Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, urged DHS to end what he described as an intimidation campaign serving voter suppression rather than law enforcement. DHS rejects that reading, saying people lawfully in the country and not breaking other laws have nothing to fear. Green-card holders cannot vote in federal elections, but for eligible voters the vow to 'find you' and the limited number of charges now pull in opposite directions.