DHS Directs ICE to Deport Foreign Citizens Who Illegally Vote in Federal Elections

The Department of Homeland Security has directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leadership to deport foreign citizens who vote in federal elections or make a false claim of citizenship.

The order was given hours after the agency’s general counsel, James Percival, issued a directive on June 9 to the department’s principal legal adviser for leadership to enforce stricter penalties, including deportation, for non-Americans who illegally vote in American elections.

“Only Americans should be electing America’s leaders,” Percival said in a post on X. “Foreign citizens who illegally vote in our elections are deportable, regardless of their immigration status.”

Illegal voting by aliens in the country dilutes the votes of American citizens and undermines our democracy,” Percival states in the directive. “It must have consequences.”

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 25, 2025, called “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.”

In the order, Trump directed agencies across the government to take actions to verify voter eligibility, administer grants, share information, enforce federal integrity laws, improve voting systems, and prosecute those who vote unlawfully or are illegally registered to vote.

ICE and the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor have had tools to ensure consequences are attached to unlawful voting and other conduct by non-citizens, Percival said in the directive.

The Immigration and Nationality Act directs the removal of non-citizens who vote illegally or make a false claim of U.S. citizenship, which often go hand-in-hand, according to Percival.

“Because these grounds include deportability grounds, these provisions allow the removal of even lawfully present aliens when they illegally participate in our elections,” Percival said.

The Board of Immigration Appeals determined that these removability grounds don’t require the government to prove the offender had intent, Percival stated.

“Further, a criminal conviction is not required to invoke these provisions,” he said.

Percival directed the agency’s attorneys to invoke the law and use removal proceedings “to the maximum extent allowed by law.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche also said his office would not tolerate such violations.

“This administration will not tolerate aliens who attempt to vote in our elections when they know they are not eligible,” Blanche said on May 1.

In Texas last year, the state found thousands of illegal immigrants registered to vote on the state’s voter rolls. Secretary of State Jane Nelson said the noncitizens were flagged through a cross-check of the state’s 18 million registered voters against federal citizenship records in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ “SAVE” immigration database.

The check netted over 2,700 potential illegal immigrants registered on the voter rolls, Nelson said.