Padilla condemns alleged false voter-portal instructions

U.S. senator and ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee

“Federal officers are being told by headquarters to lie or to misrepresent themselves in order to access state voter data.”
Read the official statement (opens in a new tab)Alex Padilla's September 14 remarks on DHS's Unlawful Voter InitiativeSenate floor remarks concerning voter-portal attestations and call to halt the initiative.
Read the original text (opens in a new tab)Senate letter and whistleblower disclosure on DHS's Unlawful Voter InitiativeSenators' letter, pp. 1-6; September 8 disclosure, pp. 7 onward; state-portal and training excerpts, pp. 15-23.

Source and context

Official statement

Alex Padilla's September 14 remarks on DHS's Unlawful Voter Initiative (opens in a new tab)Senate floor remarks concerning voter-portal attestations and call to halt the initiative.

About this source

Padilla publicly recounted the whistleblower's allegations that officers were told to misrepresent themselves on voter sites. He called for the initiative to stop and for DHS to disclose its practices. His remarks are allegations and criticism, not independent proof of completed false attestations.

Archived copy (opens in a new tab)

Original text

Senate letter and whistleblower disclosure on DHS's Unlawful Voter Initiative (opens in a new tab)Senators' letter, pp. 1-6; September 8 disclosure, pp. 7 onward; state-portal and training excerpts, pp. 15-23.

About this source

The published packet contains senators' allegations, a whistleblower's account, screenshots of state voter portals, and excerpts from USCIS training. The reproduced training says officers may search listed sites; it does not explicitly instruct them to make a false voter attestation.

Archived copy (opens in a new tab)

Before the quotation

Padilla introduced the anonymous whistleblower's disclosure to the Senate and described its allegations about the initiative.

After the quotation

He called for DHS to halt the activities, disclose its practices, and remove unreliable law enforcement records.

How this statement is classified

Condemned

Case context: Did DHS direct officers to misrepresent themselves to search state voter records?

The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.

Why this label?

Padilla criticizes the alleged directive to misrepresent voter authorization and demands that the activity stop. His statement draws on the whistleblower disclosure.

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People and groups discussed
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

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Gary Peters

“If true, this is just another alarming effort by the Department to use data that USCIS materials admit may be inaccurate”
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Markwayne Mullin

“That's absolutely not the directive that we put out there, and it's not even close to what we're doing.”
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Jay Jones

“Users that falsely make this certification in an effort to gather protected voter information may be violating several Virginia criminal statutes.”
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