The state of Florida and the Department of State filed a lawsuit this week against the Biden-Harris administration, alleging it is preventing the state from removing noncitizens from its voter rolls.
A copy of the lawsuit obtained by fox news digital“Florida has an obligation to maintain accurate and up-to-date voter registration records'' and “the federal government has an obligation to cooperate with states to ensure that only citizens can vote in elections.'' There is.
“The Biden-Harris administration is allowing millions of illegal immigrants into the country and must ensure that only citizens are registered on the voter rolls.”
But the state says the Biden-Harris administration “refuses to comply with these obligations and is impeding Florida's ability to maintain election integrity.”
The complaint added that Florida needs help from the federal government, specifically the Department of Homeland Security, because it cannot track the citizenship status of voters on its own.
To track immigration and citizenship status, DHS, through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, has established an online verification service, the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program.
The online service should be made available to states upon request, according to the complaint. But the lawsuit alleges that “the federal government has refused to make the SAVE program available” to the state of Florida, which was intended to use the program to protect election integrity.
Following a 2012 lawsuit, the Florida Department of State and DHS issued a “Memorandum of Understanding to allow FDOS to access the SAVE program to verify citizenship and immigration status information for persons listed on Florida's voter registration rolls.'' concluded.''
However, Florida said that to use the service to verify an individual's immigration status, they must already have biographical data and a unique immigration identifier for that individual.
The lawsuit claimed that FDOS discovered “a number of individuals” that it had reason to believe may be non-citizens who were registered to vote. To verify the individual's citizenship status, FDOS sent a letter to USCIS requesting verification due to the lack of a unique immigration ID to access information through the SAVE program.
According to the State of Florida, “USCIS denied FDOS' requests for further information about the specific individuals in question and refused to provide any means of determining their immigration status other than through the SAVE program.”
“The State of Florida has identified some individuals whose citizenship or immigration status cannot be verified through SAVE and whose citizenship or immigration status DHS has refused to verify through other means,” the complaint states. It's dark.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody told Fox News Digital, “Voting is a right afforded to American citizens, not to illegal immigrants or other non-citizens. “We are allowing immigrants into the country and we must ensure that only citizens can vote.” It's on our voter rolls. ”
“I will take legal action against the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Mayorkas to ensure that Florida maintains the integrity of our state's voter rolls,” Moody added.
“Florida is calling on the federal government to remove barriers that prevent states from obtaining the critical information they need to prevent non-citizens from voting,” said Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd. said.
A DHS spokesperson told FOX News Digital that the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
The spokesperson added: “More broadly, USCIS is working with Florida and will continue to communicate directly through official channels. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services operates an online information service called SAVE. , which makes it accessible to registered and licensed institutions, including election authorities in each state,” it added. To confirm the citizenship or immigration status of a particular individual. ”
“SAVE is the safest and most efficient way to verify an individual's citizenship and immigration status, including verification of voter registration and voter list maintenance,” the DHS spokesperson continued. “By entering an individual's name, unique immigrant identifier issued by DHS, and date of birth, the registrar can determine whether the person obtained U.S. citizenship through the naturalization process or other specific For individuals, it can be determined whether USCIS has information that confirms U.S. citizenship.
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