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EXCLUSIVE: House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil sent oversight letters to election officials in 10 states, including Minnesota, seeking details on voter roll maintenance and safeguards against noncitizen voting.
The move puts Minnesota’s election system under renewed scrutiny as Republicans press states for compliance with federal election law.
Steil, R-Wis., wrote to both red and blue states — including Minnesota, Illinois, Maine, Indiana, Tennessee, Kansas, California, Ohio and Florida, noting that his committee has broad oversight of federal elections — and that public confidence in such elections is a “compelling interest of Congress and the states.”
“When illegal aliens are found on state voter rolls, it significantly undermines Americans’ confidence in our elections,” Steil told Fox News Digital Thursday.
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“I will continue to seek answers on how frequently this happens and what states are doing to address the issue. American elections are for American citizens only.”
Such concerns made national headlines when illegal immigrant Ian Roberts, serving as a high-paid school superintendent in Iowa, was found to be allegedly fraudulently registered to vote in Maryland.
Steil said at the time that Annapolis, Maryland, failed to provide him complete answers on the matter and left serious concerns unresolved, including whether Roberts ever received a live ballot or if the Old Line State drew the line with new protocols to verify citizenship.
In his letter to Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, Steil wrote that his panel will be conducting oversight to review the state office’s compliance with federal election laws and potential legislative reforms.
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Steil noted Simon previously said that Minnesota’s elections are “free, fair and secure,” but that the state’s “driver’s license for all” initiative may belie that.
He gave Simon, and the other secretaries of state, a two-week deadline to provide a series of datapoints to aid in the congressional investigation, including how often the states conduct general voter list maintenance, sources used to identify ineligible voter registrants, whether they utilize free data provided to states by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services known as the “systematic alien verification for entitlements database,” and whether they have data-sharing agreements with other states as an added safeguard.
Rep. Bryan Steil sits at a Trump rally in Wisconsin. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
The chairman’s letters also demanded information on how states remove deceased and relocated registrants to prevent fraud, and how they notify ineligible registrants already on the rolls.
A carbon copy of each letter was also sent to House Administration Committee ranking member Joe Morelle, D-N.Y.
Minnesota’s voting system also came under scrutiny over its “vouching” policy, which allows a registered voter to “vouch” for up to eight other people seeking same-day registration.
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An official in Simon’s office told Fox News Digital that the vouching policy has been intact for “more than 50 years.”
Simon deputy communications director Cassondra Knudson said at the time that several measures are in place to help keep the election system in Minnesota secure under the vouching policy, and that “vouching can only be used to provide proof of a potential voter’s residence in the precinct.”
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Local News
While Logan Airport has so far avoided the delays plaguing other major hubs, Boston’s airport may see federal immigration agents step into a security role at the order of President Donald Trump.
As the partial government shutdown continues into its second month, more than 400 Transportation Security Administration workers have quit after working without pay since mid-February, the Department of Homeland Security said. Funding for DHS, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is at the center of the shutdown.
Starting Monday, Trump said he’s planning to order ICE agents to airports, where they would arrest “all Illegal Immigrants,” unless Democrats fund DHS.
Mike Gayzagian, the president of AFGE Local 2617, the New England branch of the TSA officers’ union, said it’s currently unclear if ICE will be headed to Logan or any other airport in New England.
“We have not heard anything official from TSA leadership that ICE would be coming to any airport in New England. However, we are making inquiries,” Gayzagian said in a statement. “The New England region has not experienced the same problems as other parts of the country and so we do not see such a move as something that’s necessary at this time. However, if the staffing situation deteriorates, the need for such a move may have to be reevaluated.”
At Logan Airport, the majority of TSA agents have stayed at work, Boston.com previously reported, and the airport has overall avoided long security lines.
Massport confirmed Sunday that Logan has “not seen any impacts to the checkpoints due to the ongoing shutdown” and said it had no information on ICE agents going to Logan.
When asked if ICE agents will be at Logan Airport, a spokesperson for DHS did not address Boston or New England directly, instead blaming the “Democrat shutdown” and addressing the long lines at airports nationwide.
Trump will “deploy hundreds of ICE officers, that are currently funded by Congress, to airports being adversely impacted,” according to Lauren Bis, DHS’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, Department of Homeland.
“Because of the Democrat shutdown, President Trump is using every tool available to help American travelers who are facing hourslong lines at airports across the country — especially during this spring break and holiday season that is very important for many American families,” Bis said. “This will help bolster TSA efforts to keep our skies safe and minimize air travel disruptions.”
AFGE National President Everett Kelley slammed the move in a statement, saying the agents “deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be.”
In New England, Gayzagian said as the union makes inquiries into the move to deploy ICE agents, public safety is important if staffing levels suffer.
“It’s important to keep the public safety situation under control,” Gayzagian said. “Any police presence at the airport acts as a deterrent to those who have bad intentions.”
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Three juveniles were arrested Sunday in Downtown Pittsburgh after police say a fight broke out among about 40 people during which pepper spray was used, according to Pittsburgh police.
Officers responded to reports of a large gathering of juveniles at Forbes Avenue and Market Square around 5:30 p.m.
A fight broke out among about 40 people outside. During the incident, police said some juveniles began using pepper spray.
When the officers’ verbal commands to disperse were ignored, they deployed pepper spray to disperse the crowd and restore order, police said.
Police did not say what charges, if any, the three juveniles taken into custody would face. Their ages were not disclosed.
Paramedics set up a decontamination area and treated about 20 people at the scene for exposure to pepper spray, police said.
No one was taken to a hospital, and no officers were hurt, police said.
Two people are hospitalized following a crash early Sunday morning in Hartford.
According to officials, officers responded to 587 Blue Hills Avenue around midnight for reports of an accident with serious injuries.
They say firefighters arrived on scene to a 2-car crash with a white Lexus rolled over with ejection of the driver.
Officials say the victim was conscious on the ground and received quick trauma assessment before being transported to Saint Francis Hospital.
The driver is in stable but critical conditions, police say.
The operator of the white Toyota sustained minor injuries and was also transported to Saint Francis Hospital for further evaluation.
Officials say that the driver of the Lexus was driving southbound and tried to pass the Toyota when the car spun out, hit several fences and two parked cars.
The investigation is still ongoing.
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