AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened investigations into 33 potential noncitizens who allegedly voted in the 2024 General Election.
The move comes after Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson referred the cases to the Office of the Attorney General.
Paxton, a Republican, is running a Senate primary challenge against Sen. John Cornyn. Paxton announced the investigation June 17.
“Noncitizens must not be allowed to influence American elections, and I will use the full weight of my office to investigate all voter fraud,” Paxton said. “In order to be able to trust the integrity of our elections, the results must be determined by our own citizens—not foreign nationals breaking the law to illegally vote.
“These potential instances of unlawful voting will be thoroughly investigated, and I will continue to stand with President Trump in fighting to ensure that our state’s elections are safe and secure.”
The referral from Nelson comes after Texas gained access to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s SAVE Database. Texas was able to access the database following President Trump’s signing of an executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security to offer the database at no cost to all states in order to preserve the integrity of our elections.
A group that has worked toward ensuring that only American citizens can vote in elections praised Paxton’s efforts.
“It's fantastic that the federal government is cooperating with states to combat illegal non-citizen voting,” said Jack Tomczak, vice president of Americans for Citizen Voting. “We applaud Attorney General Paxton and Secretary Nelson for taking this issue seriously, and we look forward to the statewide vote this November on the Citizen Only Voting Amendment.”
Tomczak
With increased access to the SAVE system, ACV says Texas has not only been able to identify potential noncitizens who have voted illegally, but they have also been able to confirm the naturalized citizenship of dozens more.
“This is what productive cooperation between state and federal government looks like,” ACV says on its website.
Last month, Gov. Greg Abbott signed ACV-backed legislation that makes it “crystal clear” that only American citizens can vote in elections in the Lone Star State.
In the executive order titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” Trump directed the State Department and Homeland Security to give all states “access to appropriate systems for verifying the citizenship or immigration status of individuals registering to vote or who are already registered.”
It also ordered Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to provide U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi with “complete information on all foreign nationals who have indicated on any immigration form that they have registered or voted in a federal, state or local election, and shall also take all appropriate action to submit to relevant state or local election officials such information.”
