{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.slotkin.senate.gov/2026/09/29/slotkin-peters-padilla-demand-homeland-security-secretary-to-stand-up-to-trump-on-election-interference-not-send-ice-to-polls/", "Slotkin, Peters, Padilla Demand Homeland Security Secretary to Stand up to Trump on Election Interference, Not Send ICE to Polls", "2026-09-29", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "MI", "Elissa Slotkin", "S001208", "www.slotkin.senate.gov", "slotkin", "https://www.slotkin.senate.gov/newsroom/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON D.C. \u2014 U.S. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), in an effort led by U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Alex Padilla (D-CA), called on Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to stop any efforts to bring the 2026 midterm elections under federal control and erode public confidence in them. Slotkin has made demanding accountability from Mullin in election security issues a priority, ever since Mullin\u2019s confirmation hearing.\n\nThe Senators asked DHS to produce evidence backing up Mullin\u2019s public statements that \u201cthousands of non-citizens\u201d had registered to vote. They also urged the Department to withdraw the new election-related requirements attached to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) homeland security grants, deliver the full funding to the states, and put an immediate end to the so-called \u201cUnlawful Voter Initiative\u201d that a recent whistleblower brought to light.\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 wrote the Senators.\n\nThe letter pushes back on Mullin\u2019s unsubstantiated assertion that 250,000 noncitizens are registered to vote across four states. It also faults DHS for leaning on states to hand over sensitive voter roll data for screening through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, even though the Administration itself has conceded there are flaws in the data behind that system.\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 continued.\n\nIn addition to Slotkin, Peters, and Padilla, the letter is signed by Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DL), Chris Coons (D-DL), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), John Fetterman (D-PA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), 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), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).\n\nRead the full text of the letter here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-30T10:57:52Z", "2026-09-30T10:59:04Z"]], "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.slotkin.senate.gov/2026/09/29/slotkin-peters-padilla-demand-homeland-security-secretary-to-stand-up-to-trump-on-election-interference-not-send-ice-to-polls/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9001307189464569, "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"}