Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen has warned that federal policies enacted by President Biden provide a “machine” for illegal immigrants and aliens to register to vote.
In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, Allen pointed to Executive Order 14019 of 2021 and argued that the Biden administration’s broad interpretation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) “arms and mobilizes the entire federal government into a voter registration agency.”
Allen said his office began looking into the issue after receiving complaints from concerned voters who received voter registration forms in the mail from an Alabama agency that were addressed to relatives who had died two years earlier. Further investigation revealed that state agencies that receive federal funding, including Medicaid and other human services, are required under the NVRA to provide voter registration forms to anyone who comes into contact with them, Allen said.
Allen said this includes illegal immigrants and foreign nationals, arguing that the 2021 executive order provides no way to ensure the forms are only sent to U.S. citizens.
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Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen testified at a Senate Rules and Administration Committee hearing in Washington, DC on March 12. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Those individuals will receive information about their voter registration regardless of whether they are ultimately approved for the public benefits they applied for, he said.
“That’s why it’s so important that the federal government, Congress, amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to allow states to conduct their own voter registration and take it out of the hands of the federal government,” Allen said. “It’s done through state agencies that are federally funded and, of course, required by federal law, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Anybody who applies for these public benefits, however they contact that agency, they’re receiving a voter registration form. It’s very troubling that non-citizens, whether they’re legal immigrants or illegal immigrants, are receiving voter registration forms.”
“Only American citizens should be able to vote in our elections. And I strongly believe that the people of Alabama believe that only American citizens should be able to vote in our elections. And that’s something I’m not going to run away from,” Allen said. “It’s something you can’t run away from. And we have to continue to insist on this reform. Again, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 is a smart reform. And that’s why we have to get President Trump back in the White House. That’s why we have to make sure we have strong Republican majorities in the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives to reform the National Voter Registration Act to include protections to verify citizenship. It’s essential that we do that going forward.”
The White House positioned Executive Order 14019 as a measure to protect “the voting rights of all Americans who have a legal right to participate in elections,” including Black voters and other voters of color.
At the time, the Biden administration said the order was part of the federal government’s responsibility to “expand access to and education on voter registration and election information, combat misinformation, and ensure all voters can participate in our democracy.”
In March, Allen testified before the Senate Rules and Operations Committee about the limited tools available to state election officials to ensure that only Americans can register to vote and cast ballots in elections.
During the hearing, he testified how in December his office requested a list of non-citizens from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services so that it could match Alabama’s voter files, but the federal government denied the request and instead instructed the Alabama Secretary of State’s office to verify citizenship using the Systematic Alien Verification Eligibility (SAVE) program.
President Biden hosted an event at the White House in Washington, DC on Tuesday to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Deportation program for young immigrants, and issued a comprehensive new immigration policy executive order the same day. (Andrew Layden/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
But SAVE specifically states it may not be used to verify citizenship for voter registration purposes, Allen testified.
“The federal government and federal courts have historically blocked state efforts to verify citizenship, and I believe that citizenship verification is more important than ever, especially given what’s happening at the southern border,” Allen told the committee.
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In an interview with Fox News Digital on Monday, Allen advocated for two bills at the federal level. First, he supported the Citizen Vote Protection Act, which was first introduced in December by Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and sponsored in the House by Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.). The bill would allow states to include proof of citizenship on vote-by-mail registration forms requiring applicants to provide proof of citizenship.
Second, Allen also praised the Protecting American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, just introduced last month by Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT), which would require states to obtain proof of citizenship (in person) when registering to vote and require states to remove non-citizens from existing voter rolls.
“It’s a top priority for other like-minded secretaries of state, Republican secretaries of state, that we’re watching this very closely and trying to determine what’s going on and whether we need to amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993,” Allen told Fox News Digital.
He said other officials, as well as ordinary citizens in the state, are concerned about the integrity of the elections.
“No matter where you go in Alabama, Alabamians are concerned about our elections and our election process, they want elections that are fair, secure, transparent and accountable, and when they go to vote, they want to be confident that their vote is counted correctly and accurately,” he said.
Allen also addressed Tuesday a new executive order (EO) issued by President Biden this week that is expected to protect up to 500,000 illegal immigrants from deportation. Republican lawmakers have widely criticized the order, arguing it is an election-year ploy by Biden to garner support from Hispanic and Latino voters by allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the country indefinitely on “parole” and receive taxpayer-funded benefits.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen and election officials from South Carolina, Nebraska and Michigan testified at a Senate Rules and Operations Committee hearing in Washington, DC on March 12. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“Today, Biden issued an executive order providing massive amnesty to illegal immigrants currently residing in our country,” Allen said in a statement. “Combining this with his previous voter registration executive order, it is clear that Biden seeks to win the next election not by winning the support of legal American voters, but by legalizing illegal immigration. He will not stop with this executive order; he will continue to try to undermine the voting power of legal Americans. Biden and his administration are radical and lawless.”
Asked to comment on both executive orders, a White House spokesman told Fox News Digital: “It is unlawful for foreign nationals to vote in federal elections. Protection from deportation does not confer the right to vote.”
Alabama law requires all elections to use paper ballots, and the tabulating machines used on Election Day cannot be connected to the internet.
Allen also praised the state’s photo ID law, which requires everyone who comes to vote to show a valid photo ID.
“We think these are good, strong laws to make sure that our elections in the state of Alabama are strong, safe, secure, transparent and accountable,” Allen told Fox News Digital. “So I want the people of the state to know that the No. 1 priority of our office, of this administration, every single day that we come to the State Capitol, is to make sure that our elections in the state are strong, and at the end of the night, we’re going to know who wins and who loses in Alabama.”
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While it is illegal for foreign nationals to vote in federal elections anywhere in the country, several local governments, including California, Maryland, Vermont and New York, have enacted laws in recent years allowing foreign nationals to vote in city and municipal elections. More than 500 foreign nationals registered to vote in Washington, DC’s city council elections earlier this month.
Allen stressed that Alabama does not have such jurisdiction. Regarding needed reforms to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, Allen said state law does not allow for the timely removal of people who move out of state from voter rolls. Currently, it takes four years to complete that process, but Allen argued it should only take two.
