Senator Alex Padilla and Senator Chuck Schumer wrote a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullen and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph B. Edlow regarding the voter database.
Posted by Letters from an American, Checked
- Sources
- 4 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 80%
Letters from an AmericanSep 15, 2026
Multiple sources report that Senators Padilla and Schumer sent a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and USCIS Director Joseph Edlow about the DHS voter-data initiative, which supports the claim. The claim spells the secretary's name 'Mark Wayne Mullen', but the sources give 'Markwayne Mullin', which is a spelling variant for the same official and does not change the referent.
What was said
… DHS itself noted that the data was flawed and warned that there will be U.S. Citizens in this population, and has been opaque about how they compiled the database, according to a letter written by Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat of California, the top ranking Democrat on the Committee on Rules and Administration, and Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat of New York, the Senate minority leader, to Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullen and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph B. Edlow. The department's training video says the database was compiled with supplemental magic. Taken together, the administration's continued flirtation with Vladimir Putin and his associates, its use of our tax dollars to imprison immigrants in substandard …
Letters from an American · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Yahoo and Democracy Docket both report that Padilla and Schumer released the whistleblower disclosure in a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow.[4][5]
Supports. Talking Points Memo reports that the senators included the whistleblower allegations in a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and NBC reports the joint letter to the Department of Homeland Security about the 'Unlawful Voter Initiative'.[3][6]
Context. The Padilla press release and AP coverage describe the senators' joint release of the whistleblower disclosure and their demand for an investigation into DHS voter-data searches, which is the context for the letter.[1][2]
Context. The sources treat the whistleblower account as unverified allegations, not established findings, so the letter's content is reported as the senators' claims.[5]
Sources
6 sources: 1 fact-checker, 1 primary, 1 tier 2, 3 not rated
- 1Whistleblower says DHS voter probe may break lawsapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 2Following Bombshell Whistleblower Disclosure, Padilla ...padilla.senate.gov · primary source · cited for: context
- 3Progressive groups launch campaign for an AOC and Ro Khanna presidential runnbcnews.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 4Homeland Security officers are illegally accessing state ...democracydocket.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 5Democrats Allege DHS Voter Data Searches Broke State Law - Yahooyahoo.com · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 6New Whistleblower Report Finds Fed Agents Likely Broke State Laws in Pursuit of Trump’s Conspiracy Theoriestalkingpointsmemo.com · not rated · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- The Department of Homeland Security sent a letter stating that 20,000 people are illegally registered to vote.Mixed
- The Department of Homeland Security issued a letter on July 18th claiming that California, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey collectively had 250,000 potential non-citizens on their voter lists.True
- Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter sent letters to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan demanding they verify the citizenship of voters flagged by the federal government.True
- Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullen threatened election officials with criminal prosecution if they did not put Trump's election changes into effect.True
- Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen claimed they uncovered hundreds of thousands of non-citizens registered to vote.True