In July, Harmit Dillon, head of the Civil Rights Division in the DOJ, threatened state election officials with criminal prosecution if any non-citizens cast a ballot in their state.
Posted by Letters from an American, Checked
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Letters from an AmericanSep 13, 2026
Multiple reliable outlets (Reuters, NBC News, NYT via the Inquirer, NOTUS) report that in July 2026 Harmeet Dhillon, head of the DOJ Civil Rights Division, sent letters to election officials in all 50 states and D.C. warning of criminal prosecution if they knowingly kept noncitizens on voter rolls or facilitated noncitizens casting ballots.
What was said
… As Corasaniti notes, the administration has sued 30 states for their voter lists and has lost 23 of the cases and won none. Trump has claimed to be the victim of voter fraud since the 2016 primaries, but has never produced any proof of his claims. In July, Harmit Dillon, who heads the Civil Rights Division in the DOJ, threatened state election officials with criminal prosecution if any non-citizens cast a ballot in their state, although it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote, and Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullen threatened election officials with criminal prosecution if they did not put Trump's election changes into effect. …
Letters from an American · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Reuters reports that the DOJ sent letters to all 50 states warning that election officials could face criminal charges for allowing noncitizens to remain on voter lists, sent by Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Civil Rights Division.[1]
Supports. NBC News and the NYT (via the Inquirer) report the letters, signed by Dhillon, warned election officials they could face criminal prosecution if they knowingly retained noncitizens on voter lists or facilitated noncitizens casting ballots.[2][3]
Supports. NOTUS reports the letter threatened to prosecute local and state election officials if any noncitizens are found to have voted in the midterms, matching the claim's framing.[4]
Supports. UPI and USA Today independently confirm the July 2026 letters from Dhillon threatening criminal prosecution of officials who allow noncitizens to vote.[5][6]
Context. The letters were dated July 7 and sent in July 2026, so the timing in the claim is correct.[6][7]
Sources
7 sources: 1 fact-checker, 1 tier 2, 5 not rated
- 1US Justice Department tells state officials they could be ...reuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2DOJ threatens criminal charges for state election officials ...nbcnews.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 3Justice Department threatens top election officials over ...inquirer.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 4Trump DOJ threatens prosecutions if noncitizens vote in ...spotlightpa.org · not rated · cited for: supports
- 5DOJ threatens state officials with prosecution for noncitizen ...upi.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6DOJ threatens to prosecute election officials over noncitizen ...usatoday.com · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 7U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon '89 ...thedartmouth.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- The Justice Department sent letters to election officials in every state threatening them over non-citizen voting.True
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- The Department of Justice has pressured states to investigate allegations of illegal voting by noncitizens.True
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- Donald Trump's executive order prioritized federal prosecution of state election officials who send or receive ballots to non-citizens or others ineligible to vote.True