Stoking Hate Towards Undocumented Immigrants To Suppress Voting.

Undocumented immigrants can’t vote. It is already illegal under federal law. Doing so can lead to prison, fines, and deportation.

Despite the political rhetoric, it almost never happens. According to the Heritage Foundation’s own database, there have been only 68 confirmed cases of non-citizen voting in the last 40 years across the entire United States. That’s out of billions of ballots cast.

So the claim that large numbers of undocumented immigrants are voting in American elections is simply not supported by evidence. It is an intentional lie. Worse, it is stoking hatred towards immigrants as a tactic to disenfranchise millions of voters. 

The SAVE Act claims to solve this supposed problem, but in reality, it would create massive barriers for millions of legitimate voters.

The bill would require Americans to present documentary proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, in person in order to register to vote or update their registration. That means millions of Americans who currently register online or by mail would lose that ability.

This might sound simple until you look at the numbers.

More than 21 million American citizens of voting age do not have ready access to documents proving citizenship, like a passport, birth certificate, or naturalization certificate, and that burden wouldn’t fall equally either.

About 69 million married women who changed their last name may not have documents that match their current legal name. I have come to see the Save Act as a women’s suppression bill. Women out vote men by more than 9 million. They also vote at higher rates than men in every election since 1980 and they lean democratic.

Pete Hegseth has promoted Pastor Doug Wilson who, along with other Christian nationalist pastors, have advocated ending women’s suffrage and repealing the 19th amendment. I believe this is part of that desire being put in this bill, to make it so much more difficult for women to vote.

On top of this, more than half of Americans do not have a passport, one of the primary documents the bill expects voters to use. Low-income Americans, rural voters, and young voters are far less likely to have easy access to these documents or have the time and money required to obtain them.

The bill would also effectively eliminate online voter registration and voter registration by mail, systems used by most states today and used by many Americans with disabilities. Voters would have to appear in person with original documents just to register, change an address, or update their name. This will impact millions, no matter their political affiliation.

We’ve seen what happens when policies like this are tried. When Kansas implemented a similar proof-of-citizenship requirement, more than 30,000 eligible voters were blocked from registering, and the law was ultimately struck down in federal court.

So this isn’t really about stopping non-citizens from voting. That problem is already illegal and extraordinarily rare.

What the SAVE Act would actually do is make voting significantly harder for millions of eligible Americans, especially women, minorities, rural voters, those with disabilities, and working-class people who are less likely to have immediate access to the required documentation.

In other words, it solves a problem that barely exists by creating a much bigger one. And that’s the point. The desire of this bill, to try to shape election results as much as possible.

And that brings us to our responsibility as Christians.

Scripture calls us to be people of truth. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” False narratives, especially ones that stir fear and suspicion toward others, like immigrants, are not harmless. When repeated often enough, they can justify policies that directly harm the vulnerable.

The prophets consistently condemned systems that oppressed people and pushed them to the margins. In Isaiah 10:1–2, God warns against those who “make unjust laws” that deprive people of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed. And Proverbs 31:8–9 calls God’s people to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves… defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

If a policy spreads through misinformation and ends up silencing the voices of millions of legitimate voters, especially those already on the margins, Christians should not look away let alone cheer on such efforts.

Following Christ means loving truth more than partisan talking points. It means standing with the vulnerable when systems threaten to exclude them and it means refusing to repeat or defend narratives that simply are not true.

As believers, we are called to stand for truth, to defend our neighbors, and to resist policies built on fear and falsehood, especially when those policies risk taking the voices of millions of our fellow citizens away.