Sen. Jeff Sessions, one of the leading opponents of illegal immigration in Congress, blasted President Obama Sunday for comments in which he appeared to condone non-citizen voting.

Obama made the comments Thursday in an interview with actress Gina Rodriguez.

“The interviewer proposed a radical and illegal action, which the president had a duty to condemn.”

“I am shocked that the president of the United States — who is the chief law enforcement officer for the nation and to whom all federal law enforcement officers report — failed to strongly and immediately object to a statement by an interviewer that unlawful immigrants can and should vote in U.S. elections,” Sessions (R-Ala.) said in a prepared statement. “The interviewer proposed a radical and illegal action, which the president had a duty to condemn.”

Rodriguez told Obama that illegal immigrants — whom she euphemistically termed “undocumented citizens” — feared they would be deported if they voted. Obama assured her that immigration officials do not check voting records.

“And the reason is, first of all, when you vote, you are a citizen yourself,” he said  “And there is not a situation where the voting rolls somehow are transferred over and people start investigating, etc. The sanctity of the vote is strictly confidential in terms of who you voted for. If you have a family member who maybe is undocumented, then you have an even greater reason to vote.”

Later in the interview, Obama was explicit that Latino citizens had a special duty to vote in order to give voice to friends and relatives who are not eligible. But the president’s remarks drew heavy criticism from advocates of voting integrity. They argued that his language sent a confusing message.

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Sessions, who chairs a Senate subcommittee on immigration and helped Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump write his immigration plan, urged Obama to clean up the misconception he left that voting by non-citizens is permissible.

“The president must immediately issue a statement to make crystal clear that only citizens of the United States have the right to vote, and that any non-citizen who votes, and anyone who assists non-citizens to vote, does so illegally and is subject to prosecution. The failure to clarify this statement will only add further credibility to the public’s concerns about the integrity of this election.”