The U.S. Census Bureau released a paper this week claiming that at least 24,000 non-citizens voted in the 2020 election.

What we found

Supports. The primary Census Bureau publication, dated August 18, 2026, reports that its initial analysis found over 24,000 voter records represented noncitizens at the time of the 2020 election.[3]

Supports. Multiple outlets, including The Hill and CNN, date the release to August 18, 2026, within the same week as the August 21 post.[4][5]

Context. AP and Lead Stories rate Trump's claim that the report proves more than 24,000 noncitizens voted as false, because the report is a preliminary analysis that does not prove that conclusion.[1][2]

Context. Critics say the methodology likely produced many false positives, and the report is unsigned and was not produced by career Census staff.[6][7][8]

Context. The claim's wording tracks the post. The verdict grades only whether the report makes the claim, not whether the claim is accurate.[3]

Sources

8 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 1 primary, 1 tier 1, 4 not rated

1. 1FACT FOCUS: Census Bureau report does not prove Trump's claim about noncitizen voting in 2020apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
2. 2Fact Check: Census Bureau 'Beginning Analysis' Did NOT Find Over ...leadstories.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
3. 3Noncitizen Voting in the 2020 Election, A Beginning Analysiscensus.gov · primary source · cited for: supports, context
4. 4Trump finds rampant noncitizen voting in … Ken Paxton's Texasthehill.com · tier 1 · cited for: supports
5. 5Experts slam Trump's unusual new census report as a ' ...edition.cnn.com · not rated · cited for: supports
6. 6A US Census Report on Noncitizen Voting Used Bad Data ...wired.com · not rated · cited for: context
7. 7Experts raise alarms over Census Bureau report Trump is ...wnyc.org · not rated · cited for: context
8. 8Noncitizen voting report tarnishes Census Bureau's reputation ...countofcounting.substack.com · not rated · cited for: context

Where this claim was made

Said in 1 published post

• Bulwark Takes · Aug 21, 2026“There is this garbage, garbage paper that came out from the Census this week, ostensibly to prove that there was massive voter fraud in the 2020 election... it claims that it used a commercially procured voter file... to demonstrate that 24, at least 24,000 people, uhm, who were not citizens voted in the 2020 election”Post →

Related claims

• The Census Bureau report on noncitizen voting in 2020 alleged 1,100 fraudulent votes in Arizona.True
• The Census Bureau paper regarding non-citizen voting in the 2020 election was produced by political operatives at an outside think tank.True
• The Census Bureau report on noncitizen voting in the 2020 election lacked an author and a reviewer.True
• The Census Bureau paper regarding non-citizen voting in the 2020 election lists no authors.True
• The acting Census Bureau director brought in outside think-tank staff to write the report on noncitizen voting in the 2020 election.Can’t tell