Top Republican Governor Kevin Stitt has broken ranks with President Donald Trump, saying Democrats who support lax border security policies are not doing so in order to turn illegal immigrants into voters.
Speaking during an interview on NPR’s Morning Edition on February 26, the Oklahoma governor said Democrats have no intention of adding non-U.S. nationals to the voter rolls.
His remarks came just days after the House passed Trump-backed legislation, the SAVE America Act, which is now set for consideration in the Senate.
The bill, which had initially included a provision requiring voters to show personal documents such as a passport or birth certificate at the polls every time they vote, has received opposition mainly from Democrats, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer noting that “it is dead on arrival.”
This drew a fierce reaction from top Democratic leaders, including Kamala Harris, who noted that the bill must be stopped because many US nationals, close to 40%, lack birth certificates or even passports.
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Speaking during a podcast interview with Aaron Parnas, Former Vice President Kamala Harris revealed that the bill would also affect married women who change their surnames.
“You know what SAVE Act would do? Require that people show a birth certificate or a passport to register to vote. I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me, but it’s something like 40% of Americans don’t have those documents.”
The bill seeks to require proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration.
Governor Stitt, who has a strained relationship with Trump, said claims that Democrats want undocumented immigrants to vote are misplaced.
“Even my Democrat governor colleagues are not trying to get illegals here to turn them into voters. I don’t believe that’s what Democrat politicians are trying to do,” Stitt said.
Adding on, the governor defended Republicans by noting that it is not true that they do not like immigrants, as many people have been led to believe.
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“Just like Republicans get a bad rap, people think Republicans don’t like immigrants. That’s not true. There’s some common ground that if we sit down together, we can figure this out,’ Governor Stitt noted.
Stitt recently received tough criticism from President Trump, who called him a RINO (Republican in name only), leading him to apologize to the Oklahoma people for having endorsed Kevin before the 2024 election.
The Governor won the election with over 24% percentage points, taking over 77 counties.
“I endorsed him, and he won. Sorry, my cherished Oklahoma, to have done that to you”, Trump wrote on his Truth Social page.
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