Sen. Alex Padilla Calls Out Markwayne Mullin's 'Election Conspiracy Claims About Noncitizen Voting'

As our own Doug Powers reported earlier, that thing that never happens has happened again. A federal grand jury just indicted 10 foreign nationals in Minnesota for illegally voting in the 2022 and 2024 elections, and this year's primaries. Attorney General Todd Blanche added that since President Donald Trump's reelection, the Department of Justice has charged more than 90 people with voter-related fraud, including 50 illegal aliens in the last five weeks.

So, the timing might not have been right for Sen. Alex "José" Padilla to call out DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin over his "election conspiracy claims about noncitizen voting."

RIGHT NOW: I’m calling on Secretary Mullin to stop using DHS to interfere with our elections.

He knows his election conspiracy claims about noncitizen voting don’t hold up. Yet DHS is still conducting its potentially ILLEGAL ELECTION OPERATION.

Every eligible American has the…
— Senator Alex Padilla (@SenAlexPadilla) September 29, 2026

The post continues:

… right to vote. Stop making it harder.

On the contrary, we should make it harder to vote. Democrats consider it voter suppression not to mail a live ballot, unsolicited, to every person on the voter rolls, which blue states refuse to allow to be checked against federal databases to determine eligibility.

Padilla, along with Sens. Dick Durbin, Gary Peters, and Chuck Schumer, sent a letter to Mullin earlier this week demanding that he "immediately halt the Department’s efforts to assert federal control over, and undermine public trust in, the 2026 midterm elections." Padilla's office said in a press release:

The Senators demanded information substantiating Mullin’s public claims about thousands of noncitizens who allegedly registered to vote, and called on DHS to rescind new election-related conditions on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) homeland security grants, release the full grant funding to states, and immediately end the alleged “Unlawful Voter Initiative” disclosed by a recent whistleblower.
…
The Senators also highlighted allegations from a federal whistleblower about an effort referred to as the “Unlawful Voter Initiative.” According to the whistleblower, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) personnel were allegedly directed to use sensitive, personally identifiable information and improperly access state voter registration websites to find non-citizen voters. The whistleblower also alleged that personnel were directed to create law enforcement records using incomplete and unverifiable data for potential referral to law enforcement.

So what you’re saying is that’s not what’s really happening and what you and the rest of the @TheDemocrats are up to is far worse.

Those are the rules: Dems always accuse others of what they’re up to but it always turns out to be far worse.
— Airborne RxDr (@AirborneRxDr) September 30, 2026

How is it election interference getting rid of illegals?
— Joshua Nelson (@jtwoseven) September 29, 2026

How is that making it harder
— GenXer (@Texas68Landon) September 30, 2026

Yes, how does any of that make it harder for American citizens to vote?

It’s a crime for illegals and noncitizens to vote in our elections and DHS has a part in safeguarding our elections. Alex just wants to cheat.
— Bytemeharder (@bytemeharder) September 29, 2026

Notice how he doesn't say American citizen. The Democrats never say American citizens. They think everybody in the country is an eligible American voter.
— WrestleManiaRN (@WrestlemaniaRN) September 29, 2026

What’s the concern?
— Beetle6000 (@beetle6000) September 30, 2026

Says a member of the Democrat party who has industrialized voter fraud.
— Scott (@_Obscure_Guy) September 30, 2026

Illegal aliens are the only people who would even worry about this.
— PETER 🇺🇸 (@peterAmerica123) September 29, 2026

I’m calling on you to stop being shady and start being transparent. And stop embarrassing the entire state of California by declaring winners three weeks after the election.
— J Kim (@jkfromcali1) September 29, 2026

If there are no illegals voting why are you afraid of the operation? If nothing is truely going on with illegals voting you shouldn’t be worried….

But if illegals are voting, well then that’s a whole different ball game isn’t it…..

Democrat panic is real……🫪🤣
— Kdub (@kdubkdub54) September 29, 2026

Oh shut up. We all know illegals vote. Just like we know the dead vote. Especially in Illinois and California
— Zeppo (@Zeppo81190327) September 30, 2026

It's illegal to show an ID in California when voting.

If you support that you're not a serious person and you're likely a corrupt politician.
— Smalltown Los Angeles (@HenryCarnitas) September 30, 2026

What’s potentially illegal is showing up to vote without any identification. The potential to cheat doing things your way Senator is greater than ensuring that the voter rolls are sound. Why do you think California voters are stupid and don’t know what’s really going on?
— Nick Pasqualetto (@NickPasqualetto) September 29, 2026

Only a criminal would be against auditing the voter rolls for fraud. Yet, here you are.
America sees you on full display
— @From The Tavern (@desert_truth) September 29, 2026

Nobody has made it harder you lying clown. California will still mail ballots to every illegal in the state just like they always do.
— TRUTH SAYER (@TRUTHSAYER) September 29, 2026

Again, we don't see how DHS is making it any harder for eligible Americans to vote, or how Mullin is interfering with elections. And enough with the "conspiracy" claims. Noncitizens are voting. One noncitizen voting is one too many. Or does Padilla have an acceptable threshold he'd like to fill us in on?

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Editor’s Note: Republicans are fighting for election integrity by requiring proper identification to vote. It's common sense, yet Democrats are spreading lies about the impact of such a measure.

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