The Biden-Harris administration just got slapped across the proverbial chops with a lawsuit by the state of Florida, the true land of opportunity and liberty, example to all about how states rights is supposed to work, over what state officials are calling an abdication of duty by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. I mean, a case could be made that the federal government as a whole has neglected to fulfill its actual, constitutional duties and has, instead, engaged in what feels like an endless list of tyrannical abuses against the people of the United States.
Of course, as you probably already guessed, this is about illegal immigration, one of the most important topics for American voters going into the 2024 election. There are several key states in the nation — Arizona, Ohio, and Virginia — where the GOP is attempting to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls, but are butting heads against the Biden-Harris administration who want these individuals to stay put. After all, if they can’t have the ballots for noncitizens, how else are they going to be able to cheat and steal the election?
Oops. I think I just said the quiet part out loud. My bad.
The current administration has overruled these states and every effort they have made to remove noncitizens from the rolls by utilizing a federal law that bans amendments to voter rolls with less than 90 days to go before an election. Hard to believe we’re already that close, isn’t it? Florida’s lawsuit, which was first obtained by Fox News, says that state officials believe DHS is not doing its duty by being non-responsive to requests being made about whether a registered voter is an actual, legal U.S. citizen.
“Because the federal government is refusing to comply with these obligations and frustrating Florida’s ability to maintain the integrity of its elections, Florida files this suit,” the lawsuit says, adding the state “has an obligation to maintain accurate and current voter registration records” in light of millions of noncitizens crossing the border in recent months. Under current arrangements, states must rely on federal resources to verify the nationality of individuals using a DHS program called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE). Florida argues in the suit that it has evidence of non-citizenship for several individuals but cannot perform searches in the SAVE system because it does not have unique identifiers. A request for assistance sent to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was denied, it adds. “Thus, Florida has identified a subset of individuals for whom it cannot verify citizenship or immigration status through SAVE and for whom DHS refuses to verify citizenship or immigration status through other means,” the state says.
In a statement, Republican Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said that the Biden-Harris administration has an obligation to help states prevent voter fraud in November. “Voting is a right granted to American citizens—not illegal immigrants or other noncitizens. The Biden-Harris administration has allowed millions of illegal immigrants into the country, and we must ensure that only citizens are on our voter rolls,” Moody told Fox. “I am taking legal action against the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Mayorkas to ensure Florida is able to maintain the integrity of our state’s voter rolls.”
“The Florida Constitution is clear that only citizens can vote in our elections. Florida is calling on the federal government to dismantle the barriers blocking the states from obtaining critical information needed to prevent non-citizens from voting in our elections,” Florida Secretary of State, Cord Byrd, went on to explain. “We are going to prevail in our effort to uphold the law and uphold the Constitution’s guarantee of one citizen, one vote.”
Florida isn’t the only state that is trying to get the federal government to take proper action on this issue. Another big red state, Ohio, also filed a lawsuit against the Biden-Harris administration on similar grounds, stating DHS isn’t providing enough help and support for election officials in verifying only U.S. citizens are casting ballots come November. Earlier in the week, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, tore into the federal government for suing his administration for actually doing the right thing and yanking tens of thousands of noncitizens off the voter rolls.
Appearing opposite Jake Tapper on CNN, the first-term Republican governor explained that his executive order to purge illegal aliens registered to vote is merely his exercising of a law that has been on the books since 2006. “That was a law that was signed by then-Democrat Governor Tim Kaine,” Youngkin said. “And it requires our election process and governors to use RMV data when an individual self-identifies as a noncitizen. And there is a match with that person on the voter rolls to then notify that person that they have 14 days to affirm that they’re a citizen or not. And if they’re not they’re removed.”
The DOJ’s lawsuit alleged Gov. Youngkin, in following state law, violated the National Voter Registration Act, or NVRA, which requires additions or subtractions to a state’s voter rolls within 90 days of an election, according to CBS. Election experts told the outlet that the measure allows voters removed from the rolls to have additional time to appeal before Election Day. The DOJ is also suing Alabama for similar voter purges.
“Governor Youngkin is correct that the Justice Department needing to sue a state like his so close to an election is ‘unprecedented,’ but that’s because no state has sought to violate this law before this year,” David Becker, executive director of the Center of Election Innovation and Research and a CBS News legal contributor, stated in the TPN article’s conclusion.
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