Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon is warning election officials across the country that knowingly allowing noncitizens to cast ballots in federal elections can expose them to criminal prosecution.

Her message is blunt, the Justice Department will not treat citizenship requirements as optional paperwork.

The warning follows a long battle between the Justice Department Civil Rights Division and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

On July 21, 2025, the department demanded Michigan’s complete Qualified Voter File, including information unavailable in the public version.

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Federal officials sought dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, and the final four digits of Social Security numbers.

Benson instead provided the stripped down public file while withholding the additional information, claiming her office was protecting voter privacy.

The Justice Department sued Benson on September 25, 2025.

A federal judge dismissed the case on February 10, 2026, the Sixth Circuit later agreed, and the full appeals court declined to rehear the dispute on August 14.

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Despite those courtroom setbacks, Dhillon continued pressing Michigan officials about the presence of potentially ineligible voters.

In a July 7 letter, she demanded an explanation of how Michigan would prevent noncitizens from remaining registered, receiving ballots, and having those ballots counted.

Benson’s office insisted that Michigan already exceeds the requirements of the National Voter Registration Act.

That rosy bureaucratic assurance clashes sharply with repeated findings publicized by election integrity investigators examining the state’s voter records.

Investigators with Check My Vote have reported dead registrants, duplicate registrations, triplicate registrations, and people who allegedly remained registered long after leaving Michigan.

They also identified records listing voters with ages beyond that of the oldest documented living American.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that six noncitizens appearing on the Department of Homeland Security list of serious criminal aliens were also found in Michigan’s Qualified Voter File.

According to that report, two of those individuals had voted in multiple elections.

Concerns escalated when Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf released allegations from a whistleblower inside Benson’s office.

The whistleblower claimed Michigan election software automatically registers noncitizens when they update or change their addresses, while local clerks supposedly lack the authority to stop the process.

Leaf described the alleged system in stark terms.

He said, "The feature is hardwired into the system.

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Local clerks have zero ability to override or block it. Even worse, clerks are locked out of any meaningful way to verify or determine a voter’s citizenship status."

Two Michigan clerks subsequently made public appeals for federal assistance in removing suspected noncitizens from their local voter rolls.

Hastings Township Clerk David Olson was the first cited in the report, followed by Climax Township Clerk Sarah DeBoer.

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Their requests highlight the bind facing local officials who are responsible for accurate voter records but allegedly lack access to reliable citizenship information.

Clerks should not be forced to play a guessing game while state officials congratulate themselves for supposedly spotless administration.

Dhillon has now widened the warning beyond Michigan and placed state officials nationwide on notice.

She said knowingly permitting noncitizens to vote in federal contests constitutes a federal crime and made clear that the Justice Department Civil Rights Division is prepared to prosecute violations.

During an interview with GB News, Dhillon said she had sent a letter to top officials throughout the country reminding them of their legal responsibilities.

She also pointed to New Jersey, where state officials reportedly removed thousands of noncitizens from voter records after her warning.

Dhillon rejected the familiar media excuse that illegal ballots are too few to matter.

"One vote makes a difference in a democracy" she told the interviewer, correctly cutting through the notion that election crimes become acceptable whenever pundits consider the number statistically inconvenient.

When the host questioned whether noncitizen voting could actually alter an election result, Dhillon responded with a reminder from recent political history.

"You can ask Al Gore if he thinks a few votes makes a difference."

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That answer gets to the heart of the matter.

American citizens should never have their lawful votes diluted by ballots cast by people who lack the legal right to participate, whether the number is one, one thousand, or far more.

Benson is also seeking to become Michigan’s next governor, making scrutiny of her election record even more urgent.

Voters deserve straight answers about citizenship verification, voter file accuracy, and whether local clerks possess the tools needed to protect lawful elections.

Dhillon’s warning may encourage additional clerks to come forward before another election arrives.

Election integrity is not voter suppression, no matter how often Democrats repeat that tired talking point, and enforcing federal citizenship law is not optional.

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