WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House of Representatives passed H.R. 22 today, a bill that could block more than 21 million Americans from exercising their right to vote. The National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) strongly condemns H.R. 22 and its forward momentum in Congress, labeling it a significant threat to civil rights and liberties, particularly for immigrant communities and women.

If passed by the Senate and signed into law, H.R. 22 would impose stringent requirements on Americans, mandating that they show documents such as a passport or birth certificate to register or re-register to vote. More than 21 million Americans do not have these documents readily available. Younger people, married women, and voters of color are especially likely to be impacted by these potential restrictions. Additionally, the bill’s requirement that voters produce these documents “in person” would disrupt voter registration methods, including online and mail-in registration. If passed, H.R. 22 would mark the first voter suppression bill ever enacted by Congress. 

Nicole Melaku, executive director of NPNA, said, “Despite there being no evidence of non-citizen voting, the enabling MAGA factions of Congress continue to spread baseless lies to sensationalize the electoral process for their political gain. Disenfranchising naturalized immigrant voters and women who have changed their names through marriage is an outright assault on our democracy and an affront to the states that are tasked with ensuring free and fair elections. We urge members of Congress across both aisles to vote no on this baseless and misguided legislation.

“Study after study shows that non-citizen voting is extraordinarily rare, meaning this legislation serves only one purpose: disenfranchising eligible voters. And the targets are clear—not just immigrant communities, but also married women, young people, and all people of color. H.R. 22 is an assault on civil rights and liberties. If enacted, it would drag us backward to an era when people had to fight, protest, and even sacrifice their lives for the right to be heard. We must name this policymaking trend for what it is: a deliberate effort to weaken democracy and consolidate power in the hands of the few.“

Murad Awawdeh, President & CEO, New York Immigration Coalition said, “H.R. 22 is the newest front in a long, coordinated campaign to undermine our democracy. Donald Trump is once again weaponizing lies about voter fraud to justify voter suppression. We’ve seen this playbook before, and the courts have already made clear that these claims are baseless. This bill is part of a broader effort to spread misinformation, sow distrust in our electoral system, and place barriers that disenfranchise eligible voters. This bill has the potential to disenfranchise more than just eligible immigrant voters but people of color, low-income communities, and displaced people everywhere in the country. If the bill passed, it would set our civil rights and liberties back to a time when Americans had to fight for their right to be heard at the ballot box. Rather than advancing baseless policies that stoke division, lawmakers should focus on real solutions that strengthen our democracy by ensuring fair, accessible, and inclusive elections. We call on the New York Congressional Delegation to reject this harmful legislation and stand up for policies that protect and expand voting rights for all.”

Lisa Sherman Luna, Executive Director, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition said, “Whether Black or white, native or naturalized, married or not, all eligible voters deserve the freedom to have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives, and the foundational right of that freedom is voting. But instead of working to make sure every citizen can make their voice heard at the ballot box, these extreme lawmakers are dragging us backward, making it harder, not easier, for naturalized citizens, married women, young people, and working-class Americans to exercise their right to vote. They are spreading baseless lies around non-citizen voting to distract Americans from the real problems of rising prices, shrinking 401(k)s, crashing economies, and the dismantling of services like Social Security that keep families afloat. We call on sensible lawmakers across the aisles to think back to the pride we felt when expanding access to voting rights for women and people of color and draw on our history of protecting Americans’ access to the polls. We’ve done the right thing before, and we can do it again by rejecting H.R. 22 and instead passing policies that strengthen our voting rights and give all citizens the freedom to have an equal say in our democracy.”

Angelica Salas, Executive Director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) said, “The Save Act is yet another way House Republicans want to scapegoat immigrants. This bill is based on yet another false narrative that undocumented immigrants vote.   A Brennan Center for Justice study found voter fraud incident rates to be less than 0.0003 percent, concluding that it is more likely for an American to be struck by lightning than committing voter fraud. This bill will create new barriers to voting for some of the most vulnerable populations, including seniors and those without access to key documents to prove they can vote. About 9 percent of voting-age American citizens do not have access to documents such as passports, birth certificates, or naturalization papers to prove their citizenship. This act doesn’t save anything, it endangers our democracy.”

Studies and audits support this assertion. The Brennan Center for Justice analyzed 23.5 million votes across 42 jurisdictions in the 2016 election and identified just 30 suspected cases of non-citizen voting—about 0.0001% of the total. A 2024 report from the Cato Institute echoed these findings, revealing negligible evidence of non-citizen voting.

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The National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA) is a multi-ethnic, multiracial coalition of 86 of the nation’s largest immigrant and refugee rights organizations with reach across over 42 states. Together with our members, we advance immigrant and refugee equity and inclusion, build and expand immigration legal services and integration programming capacity, and drive campaigns that strengthen democracy through increased civic participation. See our website for more information at partnershipfornewamericans.org.