Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne recently introduced the Voter Eligibility Verification Act and the No Congressional Funds for Sanctuary Cities Act to push back on Democrats’ attempts to overwhelm our nation with mass illegal immigration. 

“The open border policies we’ve seen for the last 3.5 years from Democrat leadership have made our nation less safe and our elections less secure,” said Rep. Van Duyne. “From sanctuary city mayors refusing to honor our nation’s immigration laws, to Washington, D.C. bureaucrats unlawfully withholding citizenship data from states, Democrats’ willful disregard is evident and those responsible must be held accountable.” 

The Voter Eligibility Verification Act requires U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to respond to state inquiries regarding citizenship data within 30 days of receiving the request.

“After Texas requested necessary data from USCIS to verify voter citizenship and clean the voter rolls, USCIS failed to respond, leaving Texas struggling to ensure only eligible voters could vote,” said Rep. Van Duyne. “The Voter Eligibility Verification Act will fix this by requiring USCIS to respond to state requests for citizenship data within 30 days. I will continue working with state leaders to ensure they have the tools needed to protect our elections.”

 The No Congressional Funds for Sanctuary Cities Act would prohibit the use of Congressionally-appropriated community project funds from cities that have sanctuary city policies—such as laws, ordinances, regulations, or practices that obstruct immigration enforcement or shield individuals from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

“President Trump's deportation plan relies on cooperation from local law enforcement and sanctuary city policies compromise those efforts,” said Rep. Van Duyne. “My proposal to withhold community project funds from sanctuary cities would pressure local governments to allow greater cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.”

Congresswoman Van Duyne was joined by Congressman Dan Crenshaw (TX-02) in introducing the Voter Eligibility Verification Act.

BACKGROUND:

• Rep. Van Duyne recently launched a new effort to deport criminal aliens from our communities by empowering our mayors and local law enforcement to work with ICE.
• The No Congressional Funds for Sanctuary Cities Act will ensure that cities that refuse to cooperate with ICE to protect their citizens will be held accountable.
• After finding and removing 6,500 potential noncitizens from its voter rolls, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson requested citizenship data from USCIS to verify the eligibility of voters before the November 5th election. USCIS failed to comply with Texas’ request.
• In October 2024, Rep. Van Duyne joined her colleagues in demanding immediate action from USCIS to release the citizenship data so Texas could ensure eligible voters were allowed to cast a ballot.

###