On Friday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding information about DHS’s failure to comply with Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s requests for federal citizenship information to verify the citizenship status of registered Ohio voters. As Ohio’s chief election officer, Secretary LaRose has the statutory duty to enforce Ohio’s election laws, including adopting the rules for the removal of ineligible voters from statewide voter rolls and ensuring the integrity of Ohio elections. Accordingly, Secretary LaRose’s statutory obligations require that he maintain a seamless and secure voting process for all lawfully registered citizens in Ohio.
In light of the open-borders policies of the Biden-Harris Administration, DHS’s failure to comply with the Ohio Secretary of State’s requests for federal citizenship information is deeply concerning.
Excerpts of the letter to Secretary Mayorkas:
“The Committee on the Judiciary is continuing its oversight of the Biden Administration’s compliance with federal immigration law. On July 19, 2024, pursuant to federal law, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose requested access to federal citizenship verification records to verify the citizenship status of registered Ohio voters. In total, Secretary LaRose has ‘sent four appeals to [you] asking the Biden-Harris administration to grant access to additional [Department of Homeland Security (DHS)] databases, specifically the Person Centric Query Service (PCQS) database, the Person Centric Identity Services (PCIS) database, and the Central Index System 2.’ To date, you have ignored these requests. Especially in light of the open-border policies of the Biden-Harris Administration, we write to request information about DHS’s failure to comply with the Ohio Secretary of State’s requests for federal citizenship information.
“As Ohio’s chief election officer, Secretary LaRose has the statutory duty to enforce Ohio’s election laws, including adopting the rules for the removal of ineligible voters from statewide voter rolls and ensuring the integrity of Ohio elections. Accordingly, Secretary LaRose’s statutory obligations require that he maintain a seamless and secure voting process for all lawfully registered citizens in Ohio.
“Federal law requires DHS to respond to Secretary LaRose’s inquiry. Specifically, 8 U.S.C. § 1373 states that DHS ‘shall respond to an inquiry by a Federal, State, or local government agency, seeking to verify or ascertain the citizenship or immigration status of any individual within the jurisdiction of the agency for any purpose authorized by law, by providing the requested verification or status information.’ To this end, the statute is crystal clear that ‘a Federal, State, or local government entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, [DHS] information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.’ Given Secretary LaRose’s state and federal statutory responsibilities to guarantee that only lawfully registered citizens vote in Ohio federal elections, his request for access to DHS’s citizenship verification databases is a ‘purpose authorized by law,’ and you must grant it accordingly.”
Read the full letter to Secretary Mayorkas here.
