{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.gallego.senate.gov/news/press-releases/gallego-colleagues-demand-that-dhs-halt-2026-election-interference-efforts/", "Gallego, Colleagues Demand that DHS Halt 2026 Election Interference Efforts", "2026-09-28", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "AZ", "Ruben Gallego", "G000574", "www.gallego.senate.gov", "gallego", "https://www.gallego.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Senators Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Gary Peters (D-MI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and 29 of their Democratic colleagues demanded Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin immediately halt the Department\u2019s efforts to assert federal control over and undermine public trust in the 2026 midterm elections.\n\nThe senators demanded information substantiating Mullin\u2019s public claims about noncitizens who registered to vote and called on DHS to rescind new election-related conditions on Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants, release funding to states, and end the alleged \u201cUnlawful Voter Initiative\u201d disclosed by a recent whistleblower.\n\n\u201cWe write to warn you against continued activities at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that seek to undermine the Constitutional authority of both Congress and states to administer elections and defy the directions of federal courts. As Secretary of Homeland Security, you have promoted the President\u2019s conspiracy theories about our elections, pressured states to participate in illegal activities, and explicitly threatened to reduce grant funding and initiate criminal investigations for those states that do not comply with the Administration\u2019s demands,\u201d the senators wrote.\n\nIn their letter, the senators raised concerns about Mullin\u2019s unsupported and disputed claim that 250,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in four states. They criticized DHS attempts to pressure states to provide sensitive voter roll information for its Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, despite acknowledging problems with faulty data.\n\nThe senators also objected to the Department\u2019s new election-related conditions retroactively applied to FEMA\u2019s Homeland Security Grant Program, a program that provides states with funding that communities rely on to prevent acts of terrorism and other serious threats. By withholding this critical funding from states imposing conditions not authorized by Congress, Mullin is putting Americans\u2019 safety at risk for political leverage.\n\nThe senators called on Mullin to immediately provide all information substantiating his July 17, 2026, allegations regarding noncitizens who registered to vote, rescind FEMA Information Bulletin Nos. 569 and 569(a), and release all withheld funds to states without further delay; and provide information about the \u201cUnlawful Voter Initiative\u201d and immediately cease its activities.\n\n\u201cThe 2026 midterm elections are already underway. Your unsubstantiated allegations of noncitizen voter fraud, public recitation of unreliable data, and unwarranted conditioning of continued grant funding for state election security measures on compliance with politically motivated requests for voter data appear to be calculated efforts to undermine confidence in our elections and risks wrongly disenfranchising voters,\u201d the senators wrote.\n\nIn addition to Gallego, Peters, Padilla, Durbin, and Schumer, the letter was signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Chris Coons (D-DE), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-NM), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).", 1, "2026-09-29T11:07:12Z", "2026-09-29T11:08:49Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.gallego.senate.gov/news/press-releases/gallego-colleagues-demand-that-dhs-halt-2026-election-interference-efforts/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.435796894133091, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}