While a critical election integrity bill is stalled in the Senate, President Donald Trump is taking matters into his own hands and issuing an executive order to ensure that only U.S. citizens vote in federal elections. The president signed the executive order, “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections,” Tuesday evening. “I think it’s gonna be really great,” he said of the executive order’s expected effect. “That’s a big deal, very proud of it. I don’t know how it can be challenged,” he added, referring to the habit of Democrats and activist organizations taking his executive orders to federal courts. “You may be able to find a rogue judge. A lot of rogue judges, very bad people, very bad, bad judges, but that’s the only way that can be changed.”

“The right to vote in Federal elections is reserved exclusively for citizens of the United States under the Constitution and Federal law. Federal statutes explicitly prohibit non-citizens from registering to vote or voting in Federal elections and impose criminal penalties for violations,” the text of the executive order reads. “The Federal Government has an unavoidable duty under Article II of the Constitution of the United States to enforce Federal law, which includes preventing violations of Federal criminal law and maintaining public confidence in election outcomes.”

Under the executive order, the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will collaborate in “verifying identity and Federal election voter eligibility” to ensure that noncitizens do not vote. Specifically, the Homeland Security secretary, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the SSA Commissioner will work together to compile lists of all residents of a state who are U.S. citizens and will be 18 years of age or older by the time of the next election. Those citizenship lists will then be delivered to each state’s election officials to be cross-checked against voter rolls. Not everyone identified on the citizenship lists will necessarily have been properly registered to vote, but the lists will provide election officials an opportunity to ensure that noncitizens are not listed on voter rolls.

In comments to The Washington Stand, Jessica Vaughan, director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, observed, “Election integrity has emerged as a major concern for voters. One of the concerns is that noncitizens have been able to get away with voting in elections.”

While noncitizens are sometimes able to vote due to identity theft, Vaughan noted, most instances of noncitizens voting are the result of states failing to ensure that only U.S. citizens can register to vote and cast ballots. “This has been especially problematic since the passage of the ‘motor-voter’ bill, which automatically transmits an individual’s information to voter registration authorities when they get a driver’s license — even though noncitizens and, in some states, illegal aliens can get a driver’s license,” Vaughan pointed out. “It is up to the states to make sure that only citizens are actually approved for voter registration and actually vote, but many do not make this a priority. As a result, there are numerous examples of non-citizens voting and of voting fraud schemes fraudulently casting ballots in the name of non-citizens, and there are cases where these improper votes have been numerous enough to determine the outcome of the election.”

“Failing to enforce a citizenship requirement to vote means that the votes of citizens are unfairly diluted and that the ability of citizens to control the laws and destiny of their nation is compromised. It would be absurd for citizens to give noncitizens potentially controlling influence over them,” Vaughan said. “This is why U.S. law prohibits foreign donations to campaigns, for example,” she added.

Vaughan said that the new executive order is indicative of the Trump administration’s “frustration” with the failure of states to safeguard American elections for Americans. “It is an attempt to help states better prevent noncitizens from registering to vote and from voting by creating a list of citizens that does not currently exist,” she said. “Without such a list, it is more difficult for states to get an authoritative determination that someone is a citizen and potentially eligible to vote in the case of immigrants, or even people who move from a different state, unless they carry a U.S. passport, certified copy of a birth certificate, or certificate of naturalization, which many Americans do not.”

The order also instructs the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and the postmaster general to take steps to use individualized barcodes to keep track of ballots mailed out and returned, to ensure veracity and eliminate fraudulent duplicates. Furthermore, each state will be required to provide the USPS a list of eligible voters who will be sent mail-in ballots 60 days prior to the election.

Trump has been pressing Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, an election integrity measure that would mandate proof of citizenship when registering to vote and photo identification when voting, but the legislation has been stalled in the Senate after passing the House of Representatives in February. While Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) did bring the legislation to the Senate floor, it has not progressed. Senators left Washington, D.C. last week for Easter recess.