Trump administration threatens states with criminal charges in elections fight

Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, speaks at the justice department in Washington DC on 7 August 2025. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Reuters View image in fullscreen Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights, speaks at the justice department in Washington DC on 7 August 2025. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Reuters Trump administration threatens states with criminal charges in elections fight State officials call federal demands for voter data ‘truly bizarre behavior’ amid unproven noncitizen voting claims US politics live – latest updates The US Department of Justice sent letters to election officials in every state threatening potential criminal charges for officials if noncitizens vote, an escalation in an ongoing push by the federal government. As Donald Trump ’s administration pushes to exert greater control over elections, the justice department confirmed letters went out to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, “asking for voluntary compliance in a timely manner with their obligations under federal law to ensure only citizens vote in federal elections”. The letters go through federal laws and potentially criminal liability if they are broken. Any election officer, the letter states, who “knowingly retains noncitizens” on state voter lists or “facilitates noncitizens in receiving and casting ballots” could face criminal charges, wrote Harmeet K Dhillon, the head of the department’s civil rights division. “We encourage you to contact us to discuss what steps your state should take to maintain clean voter lists as required by law,” Dhillon wrote. The letter concludes with a request that states respond within five days to inform the justice department how it will ensure compliance with federal laws “and how the Department can assist in those efforts”. The letters to state officials come as the federal government has tried, largely unsuccessfully, to increase its control over elections, which are administered by state and local officials nationwide. The Trump administration , including the president himself, has frequently claimed without evidence that troves of noncitizens are swaying elections in the US. There is no proof that noncitizens are voting in large numbers in US elections. States regularly maintain voter rolls to remove people who are ineligible to vote for various reasons. Threatening criminal charges escalates a longstanding back and forth between the federal government and the states over voter data. The federal government has previously sought access to state voter rolls, which contain the personal data of millions of Americans. States have refused to turn the data over, resulting in lawsuits that the administration has been losing. Deidre Henderson, Republican lieutenant governor of Utah and the state’s top elections officer, wrote on the social media site Threads that she had received a “love letter” from the federal government, “sprinkled throughout with threats of criminal prosecut