In a July 16 primetime speech, President Donald Trump claimed DHS had “identified approximately 278,000 noncitizens who are registered to vote in federal elections.” Afterward, FactCheck.org reported “the White House linked to a DHS document claiming that a ‘review’ of ‘public data files’ in four states — California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada — found over 250,000 noncitizens illegally registered to vote. The document provided no information about how that estimate was derived, or the methodology used.” At a July 17 press conference, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin repeated the 250,000 figure and “said an additional 28,000 noncitizens were registered to vote” in at least 23 other states. But recent reporting undermines the counts the administration provided.

On August 20, The New York Times reported, “The Department of Homeland Security told Nevada election officials that it identified 185 ‘potential’ noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls, not the nearly 16,000 it claimed last month.” The paper explained that “during a meeting last week with state election administrators, Homeland Security officials said they had identified just 185 potential noncitizens in the state so far, according to emails as well as recordings of the meeting obtained by The New York Times.”
 

The federal officials said they were still considering 14,000 names for further review, according to one of the emails. In the virtual meeting, federal officials told Nevada that the nearly 16,000 they had originally identified represented “the ceiling” of potential noncitizens.

NPR added on to the Times’ reporting on the Nevada call with an August 25 article headlined “DHS acknowledges the noncitizen numbers it touted on voter rolls were inflated.” 

NPR has confirmed that officials in Pennsylvania had a similar call with DHS after Trump's allegations in July, but the state has not received a smaller list of potential noncitizens from the federal government.

“It was clear that DHS did not have confidence that the numbers they have stated publicly were accurate,” said an official with knowledge of the meeting in Pennsylvania, who did not have permission to speak publicly. Should DHS provide credible proof, the official said the state would notify law enforcement and work to remove unlawful voters from the voter list.

In response to questions from NPR, DHS provided a statement but did not address why the agency touted numbers its own employees acknowledged were inflated.

…

California, another state mentioned in Trump's announcement, echoed that concern in a statement to NPR.

“The real threat is that eligible voters—your friends, family, and neighbors—are recklessly and mistakenly removed from the voter rolls as a result of the administration's fishing expedition for purported non-citizens,” the statement reads. The state said DHS has not provided a response to its questions about the allegations.
 

• On his radio show, Fox host Sean Hannity said Trump's claim that there are “250,000 illegals registered to vote in this country” should “shock every American.” Hannity went on to claim that there could “only be nefarious reasons” why Democrats are opposing election “integrity measures” like the SAVE America Act. In a later episode, Hannity repeated the claim, arguing he does not know why “anybody would ever be against” voter ID mandates. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 7/17/26, 7/20/26]
• Podcaster and former Trump strategist Steve Bannon promoted the claim that 278,000 noncitizens were registered to vote before asking, “Where's [former Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory] Bovino when you need him?” He stated, “The 278,000 that are voting. In just four states. There's millions and millions of illegal aliens voting. And Markwayne Mullins, the passive voice. Somebody that's a speechwriter, use the active voice. Stop using the passive voice. It's a passive organization. Where's Bovino when you need him?” [Real America's Voice, War Room, 7/17/26; NBC 5 Chicago, 1/27/26]
• Former FBI deputy director and podcaster Dan Bongino said we “need the SAVE America Act” after playing clips of Markwayne Mullin claiming to have identified “250,000 noncitizens registered to vote.” Bongino asked, “How is this not a story?” and explained that the “goal” of the “media” is “destroying the election system and faith in our republic.” [Silverloch, The Dan Bongino Show, 7/20/26]
• The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro played a clip of Trump claiming there are “278,000 noncitizens registered to vote” before stressing the need for the SAVE Act. After explaining what it means for alleged noncitizens to appear on the voter rolls and noting that “the notion that you have widespread noncitizen voting” has “yet to be substantiated,” Shapiro concluded, “Bottom line is this, though: When the president says that Congress should pass the SAVE Act, obviously that's true. The SAVE Act is significantly more prophylactic than it is corrective." [The Daily Wire, The Ben Shapiro Show, 7/17/26]
• OutKick founder Clay Travis argued that we need to “find out how many more tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of people are currently on voter rolls that shouldn't be there,” after reiterating Trump's claim that there are 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote “just based on four states.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 7/22/26]
• On The Dan Bongino Show, Scott Presler stated that there are “at least 250,000 noncitizens on the voter rolls alone in Cali, New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.” Presler, whom The Washington Post has described as “an online influencer with a following built around the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump,” claimed, “The American people demand proof of citizenship, and we demand photo voter ID in order to secure our elections.” [Silverloch, The Dan Bongino Show, 8/18/26; The Washington Post, 11/3/24]
• Hannity argued the 250,000 number is “probably a real number” because Trump said it. He said, “Now, this is a guess, but I would imagine, you know, if the president says that there was information within our intelligence committee — I'm sorry, within our intelligence community — of 250,000 illegals that are illegally registered to vote, that's probably a real number.” [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 7/22/26]
• Podcaster Dave Rubin claimed “there's a problem here” after repeating the 250,000 number. He said, “250,000 non-registered people, noncitizens are registered to vote. There's a problem here.” [YouTube, The Rubin Report, 7/20/26]
• Days later, Rubin admitted he didn't “have any more evidence” to understand the discrepancy between numbers provided by the Trump administration and election officials, but asserted that Trump is “probably going to be right about this.” Rubin explained, “Now they're slowly admitting there's something, and Trump's giving more specific numbers. I tend to think, as Donald Trump has been directionally right about basically everything for the last 10 years, he's going to probably be right about this too.” [YouTube, The Rubin Report, 7/22/26; ABC News, 7/22/26]
• Turning Point USA's Andrew Kolvet promoted the numbers from DHS and claimed Democrats “don't care.” Kolvet said, “President Trump did that whole press conference, a primetime address, where we found out there's over a quarter of a million in just a handful of states that are on the voter rolls.” Kolvet claimed Democrats “don't care” and “they say nobody's going to do this. Well, actually, we have proof that people do it.” [Real America's Voice, The Charlie Kirk Show, 7/23/26]