Florida sues Biden-Harris admin for allegedly hindering removal of noncitizens from voter rolls: ‘Dismantle the barriers’



Florida and its Department of State filed a lawsuit this week against the Biden-Harris administration, claiming it is hindering the state from removing noncitizens from its voter rolls.

A copy of the lawsuit, obtained by Fox News Digital, notes, "Florida has an obligation to maintain accurate and current voter registration records," and the "federal government has an obligation to cooperate with the States in ensuring only citizens vote in their elections."

'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.'

However, according to the state, the Biden-Harris administration "is refusing to comply with these obligations and frustrating Florida's ability to maintain the integrity of its elections."

The complaint added that Florida is incapable of tracking voters' citizenship status on its own and, therefore, requires the federal government's assistance, particularly from the Department of Homeland Security.

To track immigration and citizenship status, the DHS, through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, established the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, an online verification service.

According to the lawsuit, the online service should be available to states upon request. However, the suit claims that "the federal government refused to make the SAVE program available" to Florida, which aims to use it to protect election integrity.

Following a 2012 lawsuit, the Florida Department of State and the DHS "entered into a memorandum of agreement … that allowed FDOS to access the SAVE program to verify citizenship and immigration status information for persons on Florida's voter registration rolls."

However, in order to use the service to check on an individual's immigration status, Florida stated that it must already have the biographic data and a unique immigration identifier belonging to that person.

The lawsuit claimed that the FDOS discovered "a number of individuals" who it had reason to believe may be noncitizens who are registered to vote. In an attempt to check on the individuals' citizenship status, the FDOS sent a letter to USCIS requesting verification because it lacks unique immigration identifiers to access the information through the SAVE program.

According to Florida, the "USCIS denied FDOS's request for further information about the specific individuals in question and refused to offer any means of identifying immigration status beyond the SAVE program."

"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 lawsuit read.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody told Fox News Digital, "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."

"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," Moody added.

Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd said, "Florida is calling on the federal government to dismantle the barriers blocking the states from obtaining critical information needed to prevent noncitizens from voting in our elections."

A spokesperson for the DHS told Fox News Digital that the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

The spokesperson added, "More broadly, USCIS has engaged with Florida and will continue to correspond with them directly through official channels. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services administers an online information service called SAVE that allows registered and authorized agencies, including election authorities in states, to verify certain individuals' citizenship or immigration status."

"SAVE is the most secure and efficient way to verify an individual's citizenship or immigration status, including for verification regarding voter registration and/or voter list maintenance," the DHS spokesperson continued. "By inputting an individual's name, unique DHS-issued immigration identifier, and birthdate, registered agencies can determine whether that person has obtained U.S. citizenship through the naturalization process or, for certain other individuals born abroad, whether USCIS has information confirming their U.S. citizenship."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

EXCLUSIVE: Texas Republicans Press Biden-Harris Admin Over ‘Turning A Blind Eye’ To Non-Citizen Voters

'This is an unacceptable dereliction of your duty'

Biden admin is not properly vetting illegal aliens, government watchdog finds: 'At risk of admitting dangerous persons'



A recent Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report revealed that the Biden administration's department "needs to improve its screening and vetting of asylum seekers and noncitizens applying for admission into the United States."

The June 7 report released the audit results of the DHS' vetting procedures for illegal immigrants released into the interior of the country.

'Varied and sometimes inconsistent inspection procedure.'

"We conducted this audit to determine the effectiveness of DHS' technology, procedures, and coordination to screen and vet asylum seekers and noncitizens," the report read.

The audit found that the DHS' procedures "were not fully effective to screen and vet noncitizens applying for admission into the United States or asylum seekers whose asylum applications were pending for an extended period."

It noted that Customs and Border Protection cannot "access all Federal data necessary to enable complete screening and vetting" of illegal aliens. The report also revealed that CBP lacks the technology to conduct biometric matching at land ports of entry and has implemented "varied and sometimes inconsistent inspection procedures."

During its investigation, the inspector general's office found that at three land ports of entry, Border Patrol officers "did not query all vehicle occupants in Simplified Arrival to identify criminal warrants, national security concerns, or border crossing history before admitting them into the country." According to the officers, management "frequently directed" them to "query only drivers to expedite processing," the report said.

Additionally, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services failed to conduct "timely screenings of more than 400,000 affirmative asylum applicants who filed for asylum between October 2017 and March 2023."

The department has also not implemented a "dedicated procedure or comprehensive technology solution to perform interim screening of asylum applicants whose cases were not adjudicated within the required 180-day timeframe," the report stated. As a result, USCIS may not identify illegal aliens "with derogatory information" who are already residing in the U.S.

The inspector general report offered five recommendations, concluding that the DHS must address the outlined issues or it "will remain at risk of admitting dangerous persons into the country or enabling asylum seekers who may pose significant threats to public safety and national security to continue to reside in the United States."

The DHS responded to the report, stating that it plans to implement an "automated biometric entry and exit system" for CBP's use. The department concurred with all of the inspector general's recommendations to improve vetting procedures.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Republican lawmakers accuse Mayorkas of refusing to hand over files on illegal migrants suspected of serious crimes



Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, led by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), accused Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of refusing to hand over files on illegal migrants suspected of committing serious crimes, Fox News Digital reported Monday.

Jordan and subcommittee chairs Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) and Ben Cline (R-Va.) recently penned a letter to Mayorkas renewing requests for documents on more than a dozen migrants.

"The Committee previously wrote to [DHS] for various documents and information, including the production of alien files (A-files) and related immigration case information for several alleged criminal illegal aliens," the lawmakers wrote. "However, to date, DHS has failed to comply with the Committee's requests."

According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, A-Files document interactions migrants have with various government agencies, including USCIS, Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"They include all an individual's official immigration and naturalization records and are identified by a unique A-Number. A-Files are central to our agency's daily operations and play a key role in adjudicating immigration benefits and supporting enforcement actions," USCIS stated.

The lawmakers called the DHS' failure to turn over the files "unacceptable," noting that it blocks the subcommittee from "fulfilling its constitutional oversight obligations."

"The Committee may be forced to resort to compulsory process if these requests remain outstanding," lawmakers warned Mayorkas.

Some of the requests that have yet to be fulfilled date back to October, according to a copy of the letter obtained by Fox News Digital.

The letter, dated Thursday, demanded information on Venezuelan national Daniel Hernandez-Martinez, who reportedly "randomly attacked at least three strangers and two cops." Within the first two months of his arrival in New York City, he was arrested and released six times on 14 separate charges.

Lawmakers are also seeking files on Peru national Roberto Emilio Vasquez-Santamaria, who was accused of murder. Additionally, the subcommittee requested information about four of the illegal migrants accused of attacking New York City police officers outside a shelter near Times Square in February.

In March, lawmakers sought files on Diego Ibarra, the brother of the man accused of murdering Laken Riley. According to the letter, Ibarra has Tren de Aragua gang-affiliated tattoos and has had his own "run-ins with the law."

Jordan, McClintock, and Cline provided the DHS with a new deadline of April 25 to produce the files.

In a comment to the Fox News Digital, a DHS spokesperson stated that the subcommittee's requests are "incredibly time consuming."

"A-Files can be thousands of pages long and must typically be redacted for a wide range of information including Law Enforcement Sensitive information that could jeopardize ongoing investigations, private information about junior DHS employees, and attorney client information," the DHS said.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

USCIS adds additional gender option to application for naturalization form



U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the application for naturalization form now offers another gender option for those who do not identify as male or female.

"USCIS is introducing a third gender option, 'X,' defined as 'Another Gender Identity'. Today we published a new edition of Form N-400, the first form to include the X gender option. This option will become available on additional forms as we revise them," USCIS tweeted.

— (@)

While the post arrived on April Fools' Day, it was not a joke. The form now offers three checkboxes for gender, including, "Male," "Female," and "Another Gender Identity."

"This revision is consistent with efforts to break down barriers in the immigration system and reduce undue burdens in accessing immigration benefits, while still maintaining identity verification and fraud prevention procedures," USCIS claimed.

"Form N-400 is the only USCIS form that offers the X gender option at this time. Therefore, until we complete additional form revisions that add the X gender option, naturalization certificates are the only USCIS-issued secure identity documents that can reflect the gender X. The X gender option is not yet available on the Form N-565," the agency noted.

Vivek Ramaswamy tweeted, "The current priority of U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services isn't to fix the mass illegal immigration crisis. It's to introduce 'a third gender option' on their forms. Can't make this stuff up."

"Announcing this new official policy on April Fool's is a bit too on the nose," John Cooper wrote.

"This is not an April Fool's Day joke, just another day and another ridiculous policy from the Biden administration," Alex Pfeiffer tweeted.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Biden, DHS Launch Effort To Bring Back Deported Veterans

'Failed to live up to our highest values'