President Joe Biden and his administration have publicly opposed a new legislative effort to ensure only American citizens take part in federal elections.
House Resolution 8281, titled the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, aims to ensure only lawful citizens of the United States take part in elections by requiring citizenship verification during the registration process.
“It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in Federal elections – it is a Federal crime punishable by prison and fines,” the administration said in a statement released by the Office of Budget and Management. “Making a false claim of citizenship or unlawfully voting in an election is punishable by removal from the United States and a permanent bar to admission. … This bill would do nothing to safeguard our election, but it would make it much harder for all eligible Americans to register to vote and increase the risk that eligible voters are purged from voter rolls.”
“If House Republicans really want to do something about securing our border and fixing our broken immigration system, they should vote on the border deal that the President negotiated with a bipartisan group of Senators – this would provide immigration officials the resources they need to do their jobs and be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border that we have seen in decades,” the Biden administration said.
Biden has been credited with creating a severe border crisis by allowing more than 10 million illegal immigrants to unlawfully reside in the country. According to NumbersUSA, over 1.4 million illegal migrants were released into the U.S. during Fiscal Year 2023 and 850,000 visitors overstayed their visas in 2022. The rise in the nation’s undocumented population has further ignited pre-existing concerns about the integrity of national elections.
The Senate Republican Conference has accused the Biden administration of undermining border security and “creating a growing national security crisis” that threatens the “safety of and hurting Americans.”
HR 8281 would require state officials to ask about an individual’s citizenship status before providing them with voter registration forms. The person interested in registering to vote would also have to show proof of citizenship to participate in a federal election.
Proof of citizenship could include a valid U.S. passport, a form of ID that meets the REAL ID Act of 2005, or a military identification card.
The policy would also require the Department of Homeland Security to inform the highest-ranking election official in each state when a new citizen has completed the naturalization process. The federal agency would also determine if a removal should occur after a noncitizen’s completed voter registration is discovered.
“The SAVE Act will safeguard our elections by ensuring only American citizens vote in federal elections,” wrote Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on X on July 5.
Congressional Republicans denounced the Biden Administration’s opposition to the SAVE Act.
“Democrats, as usual, are so out of step and out of touch that they are going to fight it," said Congressman Chip Roy of Texas, who co-authored the bill, on Fox Business. “They are going to try and stand up for the continued destruction of election integrity in the country. … They’ve even acknowledged that they intend to try and register these individuals to vote.”
“The SAVE Act would prevent non-Americans from illegally voting, protecting the votes of American citizens,” said Senator Mike Lee of Utah on X. “The only reason to oppose it is because you want non-Americans illegally voting.”
“Currently, states are prohibited from checking someone’s citizenship when they’re mandated by the National Voter Registration Act to enroll them to register to vote – whether that is at the DMV or a welfare office,” said Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa in a video. “The SAVE Act would mandate that states have to check for citizenship. … Your vote should count, and no illegal immigrant should be voting in our federal election.”
Miller-Meeks encouraged citizens to call their representatives and urge them to vote in favor of the bill.
