Kristi Noem backs SAVE America Act, slams voter bill opponents

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem argued Friday for passage of the SAVE America Act, accusing the bill’s opponents of favoring access to the ballot box for illegal immigrants.

Noem was in the Phoenix area, where she pushed the Trump administration’s efforts to strengthen election integrity and voter safety.

She discussed the Save America Act, a bill that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, a photo ID to vote in federal elections and would require states to remove non-citizens from their voter rolls.

She noted that large majorities of Republicans and Democrats approve of the legislation.

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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pushed for passage of the SAVE America Act Friday at a news conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, in an effort to ensure voter safety during elections. (AP Photo/Caitlin O’Hara)

However, she criticized opponents of the bill, who say it would disenfranchise millions of voters.

“Every argument made to criticize this bill is baseless speculation on the part of the radical left because they want illegal aliens to vote in our elections,” Noem told reporters at a news conference.

“They want to disenfranchise American citizens by telling them that their votes don’t matter. There is only one reason why anyone would oppose this bill and that is because they want to cheat.

“They want illegal immigrants and aliens in this country to be able to vote for them and disenfranchise American citizens,” she added. “And that’s why they resist us at every level.”

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Voting booths and voters at a polling location in 2024. (Graeme Sloan for The Washington Post/Getty Images)

Congressional Democrats have called the bill an effort to remove millions of Americans from voting rolls, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called it “Jim Crow 2.0,” a term used by some to describe so-called modern voter suppression laws.

During her remarks, Noem mentioned a handful of illegal immigrants registered to vote in various states.

“There is no place in our electoral system for people who are not American,” she said. “There is no place in our electoral system for fraudsters and foreign influences.”

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The secretary also called on Arizona to clean up its voter rolls, noting that DHS’s routine vetting of aliens’ rights can be used for that purpose. The program helps local, state and federal agencies determine the citizenship and immigration status of individuals.

“Maybe people who are deceased, people who are not citizens, people who don’t live here,” she said. “It would ensure that in your next election, when people vote, they know that they are voting for the right decisions and that those votes will be counted. And they will be counted appropriately. And someone else won’t have the opportunity to weigh in on their leadership.”