House Republicans opened a federal inquiry Tuesday into reports that noncitizens appeared in a Michigan jury pool and, in some cases, were registered to vote.
The house members asked U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi for a Justice Department briefing by Feb. 17.
In a Feb. 10 letter, House Oversight and Government Reform Chair James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. John James, R-Mich., said the panel is examining Michigan jury-pool selection and voter registration processes after "Non-citizens have appeared in the state's jury pool, and in some instances, have been registered to vote."
The lawmakers cited federal authority under the Civil Rights Act and asked DOJ when it learned of the allegations and what actions, if any, it has taken.
The letter pointed to claims from Macomb County Clerk Anthony G. Forlini, who said his office cross-checked Michigan's statewide Qualified Voter File against the county jury pool over four months.
Forlini said the review found 239 noncitizens in the jury pool and that a separate check indicated 14 of those prospective jurors "were registered to vote at some point in time," adding that the voter file showed "instances where some of these non-citizens potentially having a voting history."
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, has rejected parts of Forlini's public assertions.
In a Jan. 29 statement, Benson said the Bureau of Elections reviewed 15 records Forlini provided and compared them to state driving records and the federal SAVE system.
Benson said only three had any voting history, including one verified U.S. citizen who legally voted, one person who voted in 2024 and remains under investigation, and a third whose registration had already been canceled in 2022.
The Michigan dispute has unfolded alongside broader Republican efforts to influence election administration.
James and Comer cited the potential for similar issues "nationwide," while House leaders have backed proof-of-citizenship proposals, including the SAVE Act (HR 22), which passed the House in April 2025, and the newly introduced SAVE America Act (HR 7296), which lists House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., among its cosponsors.
A voter-roll lawsuit and a 2020 report by the Public Interest Legal Foundation said it identified 349,773 "apparently deceased registrants" across 41 states using voter-roll data collected at the end of 2019.
PILF later sued Michigan in 2021 over the maintenance of the deceased-registrant list; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the dismissal of the case in 2025.
In other jurisdictions, state election officials have also reported findings related to noncitizens during list reviews.
Iowa's secretary of state said a 2025 audit identified 277 confirmed noncitizens who voted or were registered to vote, including 35 ballots counted in the 2024 general election.
Texas officials said they identified 2,724 potential noncitizens on the voter rolls after running the state's voter list through the federal SAVE database, with counties responsible for further verification.
In Virginia, a state elections maintenance report said 2,099 voter registrations were canceled from Sept. 1, 2023, through Aug. 31, 2024, after individuals were identified as noncitizens through a DMV matching process.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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