White House responds to NJ registering thousands of non-citizens to vote
The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt highlights the administration’s commitment to investigating and preventing illegal aliens from voting in U.S. elections. She points to a letter from the Secretary of Homeland Security requesting states, including New Jersey, to remove non-citizens from voter rolls and strongly advocates for the immediate passage of the ‘Save America Act’ by August recess to protect election integrity.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson slammed Democrats Thursday over election security after noncitizens were charged with illegally voting in Michigan, warning that similar cases across the country pose a growing threat to the integrity of American elections.
“From New Jersey to Michigan, the evidence continues to mount: Illegal aliens are registering and VOTING in American elections,” Johnson said in a post shared on X.
“Democrats know this — which is why they want OPEN BORDERS and OPPOSE voter ID” he added before stating that it is a “clear and present danger to the integrity of our elections — and our Republic.”
“All Americans DESERVE secure elections, and Republicans are the ones fighting to make it happen,” he said.
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Johnson’s remarks came as five non-U.S. citizens who allegedly voted in the 2024 presidential election — along with a U.S. citizen accused of registering her non-citizen husband — were charged with election crimes, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced.
The charges follow a state review of 38 suspected cases of non-citizen voting or related conduct from 2009 to 2025.
Of those cases, six resulted in criminal charges, 10 were closed without charges and 22 remain under active review.
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(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“In my office, we’ve always taken election crimes seriously, and prosecute attacks on our voting systems to the fullest extent of the law,” Nessel said in a statement. “We’re upholding election integrity by investigating all claims of non-citizen voters, as rare as they are, and holding bad actors accountable when they refuse to abide by the laws that keep our elections safe and secure.”
More than 5.7 million ballots were cast in Michigan during the November 2024 general election.
State officials have said illegal voting by noncitizens remains extremely rare.
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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – SEPTEMBER 20: A voter drops their ballot into a ballot box at the Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services building on September 20, 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Today is the first day of early voting in Minnesota ahead of the 2024 presidential election this November. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
The charges come as President Donald Trump’s administration has made preventing illegal voting a priority.
He signed executive orders in March 2025 and March 2026 to strengthen citizenship verification for federal elections and directing agencies to give states greater access to citizenship and immigration data.
Trump’s administration has also backed legislation requiring proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
Nessel’s announcement included Robert Piva, 67, of Roseville, a permanent resident who is charged with election law perjury, which is a five-year felony; attempting to vote unqualified, which carries a four-year felony; and fraudulent registration, a 90-day misdemeanor.
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I Voted stickers are ready to be given out as citizens go through the voting process at Scheig Center & Gardens on Election Day Tuesday, November 5, 2024, in Appleton, Wisconsin. (Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)
He allegedly voted early in October 2024. Piva claimed his vote was an “experiment” concerning voter fraud.
Michael Akioya, 39, of Oak Park, also a permanent resident, has been charged with two 90-day misdemeanors for allegedly making false statements on an absentee voter application and ballot envelope during the 2024 election.
Alondra Harker, 26, of Three Rivers, is a limited-term alien resident charged with misdemeanor fraudulent registration, which is punishable by up to 90 days in jail, for allegedly registering and voting in person in 2024.
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Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump walk after voting on Election Day at the Morton and Barbara Mandel Recreation Center, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Harumi Michael, 60, who lives in Wolverine Lake, is a permanent resident who faces three felonies — two counts of election forgery and one count of attempting to vote unqualified — plus one misdemeanor for allegedly registering and voting in Commerce Township.
Basanth Sadasivian, 29, is a non-citizen living in the United Kingdom who is charged with felony attempting to vote unqualified, punishable by up to four years in prison, for allegedly registering and voting in 2024 through the Federal Post Card Application system using a Bloomfield Hills address.
And Kimberley DiDonato, 60, of Rose Township, is a U.S. citizen charged with election forgery, a five-year felony, and computer crime, a seven-year felony, after allegedly posing as her non-citizen husband to register him online.
Authorities said DiDonato claimed she wanted to test system vulnerabilities before asking to cancel the registration.
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Dana Nessel announces her decision to run for Michigan attorney general, in Ann Arbor, Mich., Aug. 15, 2017. ( )
Nessel’s office declined to charge four referred people after determining that two were U.S. citizens, one was an American citizen through an international adoption and another was a federally recognized American Indian born in Canada.
Six additional cases were closed without charges because of a lack of evidence of criminal intent or potential registration errors.
Nessel also said delays in federal cooperation affected the timeline of the state’s investigations.
“While the question of whether any given resident is a citizen may feel simple, some cases are nuanced in unexpected ways,” Nessel said.
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“The federal government has not always provided easy or open access to certain necessary citizenship records, and so our investigators had to spend considerable time and effort coaxing cooperation from the federal agencies.”
