DHS Secretary Mullin threatens states, illegal voters with ‘maximum pressure’ on election fraud 

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin vowed “maximum pressure” to root out election fraud and threatened states that refuse to cooperate after President Donald Trump warned the nation of widespread election vulnerabilities Thursday.

“Election security is national security,” Mullin said at a press conference Friday. “There’s some really easy steps that can be taken to secure our elections, and it shouldn’t be a partisan issue.”

Mullin doubled down on Trump’s declassification of intelligence documents he said revealed Chinese meddling in U.S. elections and hundreds of thousands of noncitizens on the voter rolls.

“If you’re illegal and attempted to vote, or you tried to vote illegally for someone else, we will find you and we will charge you,” he said. “Illegal voter registration and illegal voting both carry penalties of up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. We will pursue maximum pressure on this.”

He also warned that states may lose funding if they fail to comply with the administration’s election security directives.

“If these states want a grant and they want to be reimbursed to work or to run federal elections, they’re going to have to implement security measures,” Mullin said. “We’re saying that the machines have to be secured and that your voter registration rolls need to be scrubbed,” a process to remove ineligible voters.

He also warned of potential political consequences for states that don’t cooperate.

“We have to have the states partner with us,” Mullin said. “If they choose not to, then the voters should hold them accountable.”

Mullin also signaled election officials may face criminal penalties if they refuse to cooperate with the administration’s voter roll investigation.

“If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections, and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time,” said the former Oklahoma senator, who was appointed in March to replace Kristi Noem.

He concluded by reiterating that DHS is prepared to help but that “states must do their part to secure our election systems,” telling illegal voters, “We will hunt you down.”

“The American people must have confidence in our elections,” Mullin said.

His threats prompted quick pushback in Democratic states.

“California has free, fair, and secure elections and we will fight for them,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on X. “Try us.”

During questions from reporters, Mullin said Homeland Security is ramping up illegal immigration enforcement with record numbers of arrests.

“Our arrests are up. We’re hitting single-day records every single day,” he said, adding that under the second Trump administration, more than 3 million illegal immigrants have been removed from the country, including through self-deportations.

Asked about Trump’s address to the nation, Mullin also criticized NBC and ABC for not airing the speech on their broadcast networks.

“What are they trying to cover up? Why wouldn’t they want to inform the American people?” he asked. “Why are they calling themselves a news outlet if they’re not actually trying to put the news out there?”