AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Office of the Attorney General, or OAG, announced in a Tuesday press release that AG Ken Paxton opened investigations into 33 “potential noncitizens who allegedly voted” in the 2024 election.
The release did not say where these alleged cases occurred or how the potential noncitizens voted.
They are the OAG’s first investigations into specific cases of possible noncitizen voting since the 2024 general election. According to the release, this is because of an executive order by President Donald Trump, which allowed states to freely access the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ SAVE database.
“Noncitizens must not be allowed to influence American elections, and I will use the full weight of my office to investigate all voter fraud,” said Paxton in the release. “In order to be able to trust the integrity of our elections, the results must be determined by our own citizens—not foreign nationals breaking the law to illegally vote.”
In October 2024, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the removal of 6,500 noncitizens from the state’s voter rolls. He also said Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson recommended the OAG investigate approximately 2,000 of those individuals.
However, an October 2024 investigation by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and Votebeat uncovered that those figures were inflated.
Paxton has tracked along with his party’s stance on elections—the OAG release calls him “a champion for election integrity.” He launched an “illegal voting tipline” in August 2024 and sent poll watchers to several counties in November 2024.