Homeland Security Investigations obtained voter files from two county election offices as part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to investigate alleged noncitizen voting.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Federal immigration investigators have obtained voter records from county election offices in Texas and North Carolina as part of the Trump administration’s expanded effort to investigate alleged noncitizen voting, according to emails obtained by Axios.
The records show that Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, requested individual voter files from local election officials in Webb County, Texas, and Forsyth County, North Carolina. Officials in both counties provided the requested information to HSI.
The requests followed an April inquiry from an HSI criminal analyst to the Texas Secretary of State’s office asking how to obtain voter information.
“Pursuant to ongoing investigations, I am seeking information referencing obtaining voter information; specifically dates and methods of registration, elections voted in, etc.,” the analyst wrote.
The documents were obtained through public-records requests by Democracy Forward, which criticized the use of immigration investigators to pursue voter-record inquiries.
“Using ICE to pursue a problem this rare should concern everyone. Americans have a right to understand the full scope of the administration’s actions,” said Dan McGrath, the group’s senior oversight counsel.
Webb County Elections Administrator Jose Castillo told Axios he had not previously encountered similar requests and questioned whether the investigations were the best use of federal resources.
“There’s nothing there. But I get it, you’ve got to do your job,” Castillo said.
“To me, they could use their resources for something else that’s more useful,” he said.
Castillo said that during his four years in office, he has seen only two cases of noncitizen voting among more than 150,000 registered voters.
The Department of Homeland Security defended the investigations and said HSI is pursuing election-related violations.
“HSI is actively rooting out and investigating election fraud wherever it can be found,” a DHS spokesperson said.
“We have repeatedly demonstrated that illegal aliens can and do vote in our elections.
“Under President [Donald] 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 spokesperson said.
Axios also reported that Heather Honey, DHS’s deputy assistant secretary for election integrity, has communicated with Texas election officials and said the agency “has engaged with every state secretary or chief election official.”
The voter-record requests follow Trump’s March 2025 executive order directing federal agencies to strengthen election-security efforts and prevent noncitizens from registering to vote.
DHS has also promoted use of the SAVE database to verify the citizenship status of registered voters.
The ICE requests are unfolding as disputes grow over federal access to voter information. In March, the watchdog group American Oversight sued the Department of Justice and ICE, alleging the agencies failed to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests seeking records on the collection, sharing and use of voter data, including how immigration authorities may access voter records.
The lawsuit came as the Justice Department increased its claims of authority to obtain voter-registration data from states. In May, DOJ officials maintained that federal law gives the department authority to access voter-registration records for election oversight and enforcement.
The Justice Department has requested statewide voter-registration lists from multiple states and has taken legal action in some cases when jurisdictions declined to provide records.
Voting-rights advocates and some election officials have challenged the federal efforts, arguing that broader federal access to voter data raises privacy concerns and could discourage voter participation. Supporters of the investigations say the records are needed to enforce laws barring noncitizens from voting in American elections.
The developments place local election offices at the center of a growing federal effort to examine voter-registration records and alleged noncitizen voting, with immigration investigators, DHS officials and the Justice Department all playing roles in the administration’s election-integrity push.
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