(The Center Square) – U.S. Sen. John Fetterman joined most of his Democratic colleagues in a letter to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin expressing concern about its actions ahead of the midterm election.
“We write to warn you against continued activities at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that seek to undermine the Constitutional authority of both Congress and states to administer elections and defy the directions of federal courts,” the senators wrote in a joint letter in late September. “As Secretary of Homeland Security, you have promoted the President’s conspiracy theories about our elections, pressured states to participate in illegal activities, and explicitly threatened to reduce grant funding and initiate criminal investigations for those states that do not comply with the Administration’s demands.”
The senators were critical of Mullin for not publicly affirming that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, or Customs and Border Protection, CBP, personnel would not be sent to the polls by DHS, despite “federal law barring their presence.”
The senators also criticized the decision made by DHS to deploy Homeland Security Investigation, HSI, agents to nine states, including Pennsylvania, for a “coordinated criminal voter fraud surge initiative.” Fetterman and over 30 of his Democratic senators say this move was made without “verifiable evidence of widespread noncitizen voter fraud.”
“Your actions as Secretary are intentionally undermining Americans’ trust in the 2026 midterm elections and appear to purposefully disenfranchise eligible voters,” Fetterman and the other senators wrote. “Taken together, these actions amount to an illegal attempt to federalize the administration of the upcoming midterm elections.”
The senators laid out a timeline of events, dating back to March 2025, of instances they believed caused concern.
They argue that Mullin, at the direction of Trump, “have endeavored to coerce states into divulging sensitive voter roll information, raising serious concerns about how that information will be stored and used.”
In making this argument, the senators referenced an executive order signed by Trump which required DHS to compare state voter registration lists against federal immigration databases, followed by an overhaul of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, SAVE, program.
“Even though the Supreme Court has allowed you to use the SAVE program for now, we remind you of the requirement of the National Voter Registration Act, 52 U. S. C. §20507(c)(2)(A) that bars any systematic removal of ineligible voters within 90 days of Election Day,” Fetterman and his colleagues wrote.
In July, Mullin claimed that 250,000 non-citizens were registered to vote in four states. Pennsylvania was one of those states.
The senators took issue with Mullin's claim, citing pushback from various administration officials in those states, and specifically noted a review by Nevada officials that showed the initial numbers were inflated.
“These states did not agree to give you their sensitive state voter roll information and judges in each state dismissed the Department of Justice’s efforts to access that information,” the senators wrote. “Moreover, elections experts have challenged the legitimacy of these numbers.”
“Considering the inaccuracies in SSA’s citizenship categorizations and the questions surrounding how you obtained the voter roll information needed to analyze this data, we cannot trust the numbers as reported,” they continued.
The senators also objected to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, adding new terms and conditions for Urban Area Security Initiative and State Homeland Security Grant Program awards, noting a portion of those grants are spent on enhancing election security.
“DHS’s continued interference with FEMA’s grants puts FEMA’s mission at risk, slows down the administration of grants, and ultimately hurts communities,” Fetterman and his colleagues wrote.
The senators then highlighted a whistleblower who is alleging federal agents may have violated laws and DHS policies as a result of the new “Unlawful Voter Initiative.”
“The 2026 midterm elections are already underway. Your unsubstantiated allegations of noncitizen voter fraud, public recitation of unreliable data, and unwarranted conditioning of continued grant funding for state election security measures on compliance with politically motivated requests for voter data appear to be calculated efforts to undermine confidence in our elections and risks wrongly disenfranchising voters,” the senators wrote.
Fetterman and his colleagues end the letter by saying that they are “deeply troubled” by the actions taken by Mullin, DHS, and the Trump administration.
“As such, we demand that you immediately cease the aforementioned activities and provide us with all information underpinning the allegations made in your July 17, 2026, letter regarding non-citizens registered to vote, rescind Information Bulletin Nos. 569 and 569(a), release all withheld funds to the states without further delay, and provide information about the “Unlawful Voter Initiative,” they wrote at the conclusion of the letter.
In a statement to The Center Square, a DHS spokesperson responded to the letter, pushing back on several claims made by Fetterman and his colleagues.
“ICE is not planning operations targeting polling locations,” a DHS spokesperson told The Center Square on Monday. “ICE conducts intelligence-driven targeted enforcement, and if an active public safety threat endangered a polling location, they may be arrested as a result of that targeted enforcement action.”
In March during his confirmation hearing, according to The Associated Press, Mullin downplayed concerns about ICE agents being used to interfere with election administration, although he said that agents had a right to conduct immigration enforcement activities at sites related to election administration.
“I don't understand what the concern is about enforcement of immigration at polling places anyways because honestly if you're not a citizen you shouldn't be voting anyways so technically there shouldn't be illegals at the polling spot,” Mullin said. “The only reason why my officers would be there is if there was a specific threat for them to be there, not for intimidation.”
On Monday, DHS also described the assertion that their department was attempting to “exert more federal control over elections heading into the November midterms” as ‘totally false.’”
“DHS is fulfilling our obligation to protect election infrastructure under existing statutory authority so that our elections are fair, honest, and accurate,” a DHS spokesperson told The Center Square on Monday. “DHS and DOJ are laser focused on prosecuting and removing aliens who vote and preventing the dilution of the votes of U.S. citizens. ONLY Americans should elect American leaders.
“Our message to aliens who vote in American elections is clear: we will find you, arrest you, and you will face the consequences — including criminal charges and deportation,” DHS added.
A FEMA spokesperson also objected to the letter from Fetterman and his fellow Democrats, claiming that “partisan pushback is nothing new.”
“We fully expected opposition to common-sense measures designed to protect election security and safeguard the integrity of American democracy,” a FEMA spokesperson told The Center Square. “Election security is national security, and protecting our critical infrastructure remains a top priority for the Trump Administration. Concerns over voting processes, data security, and registration practices have made it clear that action is required. This year, states must take critical, common-sense steps to protect U.S. elections before receiving their full Homeland Security Grant Program awards. These new requirements will preserve election integrity.”
Fetterman’s office, in a press release last week, said that the state’s senior senator has been “unequivocally clear that our elections are absolutely secure, fair, and accurate.” He has also joined his colleagues in other joint letters over election security throughout 2026, including efforts to protect voting by mail.
During an appearance at the Texas Tribune Festival, Fetterman lauded that the “best examples of vote-by-mail come from red states,” while adding that “if the only time you criticize voting is if it means you lost, that means it’s impossible to take that seriously.”
Fetterman isn’t the only Democrat in a statewide office in Pennsylvania sounding the alarm about the perceived motive of efforts by the Trump administration ahead of the 2026 election.
CNN reported in late September that the DOJ is planning to surge election monitors all across the country. Gov. Josh Shapiro, at a campaign event in Philadelphia with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, responded to a question if he was worried about the Trump administration’s actions for Election Day.
“Well, I'm always worried about Donald Trump and his enablers trying to undermine people's right to vote,” Shapiro responded.
Shapiro noted that in 2020, while he was serving as the state’s attorney general, 43 lawsuits filed by the Trump administration over election integrity were dismissed.
“We're prepared again in court, and we're also prepared should they try and bring personnel into certain communities, particularly minority communities, to try and intimidate people, make it harder for people to vote, or make them worried about showing up to vote,” Shapiro said. “I'm not going to get into the specifics, but we have great coordination with our Pennsylvania National Guard, with the Pennsylvania State Police, the local law enforcement, and we will do everything in our power to stop Donald Trump from interfering with this election and ensure that whether you vote by mail or you vote in person, you will have access to the ballot box, and it will be protected.”
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