Internal federal guidance reviewed by CNN shows the Department of Homeland Security intends to step up voter fraud investigations in selected states beginning Tuesday. Secretary Markwayne Mullin has quickened those efforts so the department sits at the center of President Donald Trump’s campaign against purported widespread election fraud.
The department has urged states to hand over voter rolls for review and has said it may cut off grant funding for any that refuse a wider package of election changes. Investigative work has been given to Homeland Security Investigations, the ICE unit that normally handles human trafficking, drug smuggling, and child exploitation.
That agency has already moved an unusually large number of agents onto these cases. Their assignments include examining the voting histories of people believed to be noncitizens who may have registered or voted despite not being permitted to do so. Experts say there is no evidence that widespread voter fraud has occurred in recent elections.
Nine state offices slated for investigative steps from early September to mid-October
The guidance states that HSI is starting a “coordinated criminal voter fraud surge initiative to pursue investigative leads, conduct field interviews, and support timely prosecutorial review” on Tuesday. Offices in Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York and Connecticut are expected to take action from early September through mid-October.
The schedule stands out because midterm elections are already under way. Justice Department policy has long limited overt investigative steps that could affect elections. The department’s manual says, “Doing otherwise runs the risk of chilling legitimate voting and campaign activities and of interjecting the investigation itself into ongoing campaigns and the adjudication of any ensuing election contest.” It notes that sharing information with state or local officials can be appropriate when an immediate need exists.
That policy was formally dropped during the first Trump administration yet was still largely observed. It was restored under President Joe Biden. Because DHS is a separate department, it is not bound by the policy, and the new guidance does not address the timing issue.
A Homeland Security spokesperson said, “While ICE Homeland Security Investigations is not able to comment on any active investigations, HSI is actively rooting out and investigating election fraud wherever it can be found.” The spokesperson added, “Under President Trump, HSI is committed to restoring integrity to our election systems and ensuring that American citizens and only American citizens are electing American leaders.”
The commitment to election integrity comes as claims about election fraud have drawn scrutiny, such as when an interview with former President Donald Trump ended early. CNN earlier reported that agents have been tasked with checking whether people who later became citizens had registered or voted before naturalization.
A separate memo instructed HSI to coordinate with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services so removal proceedings can begin when a noncitizen is suspected of or linked to voter fraud. Despite the shift in resources, only a small number of prosecutions have been brought, most of them involving noncitizens who voted or registered unlawfully.
Last week, the Justice Department announced the arrest of a Honduran national living legally in the United States who was charged with fraudulently registering to vote and falsely claiming U.S. citizenship. “Today’s arrest is the first of many to come,” First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said. The Justice Department’s voter fraud investigations are part of a broader national debate over immigration enforcement, as a Georgia town mounts a legal argument against ICE detention centers.
Mullin has presented himself as a chief enforcer of the effort. Earlier this summer, the department said an audit of public voter rolls had identified more than 250,000 registered noncitizens in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada. “One thing that I love about numbers, and I love about facts, is they don’t lie,” Mullin told reporters, adding that election officials who fail to secure the midterms could face fines or jail time.
Those figures later appeared less conclusive. The department publicly stated it had found nearly 16,000 noncitizens on Nevada’s rolls. Internal records reviewed by CNN show officials later told the state’s top election officers that only 185 had been “confirmed,” while another 6,200 were listed as “higher confidence matches” still requiring additional review.
Published: Sep 2, 2026 09:17 am