WASHINGTON — A conservative group is launching a Spanish-language advertisement in critical battleground states that strikes two drastically different tones — first touting voting as patriotic but then warning that it is illegal for noncitizens to cast ballots in federal elections and that doing so can be a crime punishable by deportation.
The ad campaign, shared exclusively with NBC News, was paid for by the Article III Foundation, a dark-money group linked to Mike Davis, a controversial ally of Donald Trump. Voter registration deadlines are nearing, and early voting is beginning in states with sizable Latino populations, like Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
It is very rare for noncitizens to try to vote in elections; studies have found virtually no instances of it happening and no evidence that it could be occurring at a rate large enough to affect the outcome of an election. A study by the Brennan Center for Justice, a group focused on democracy, criminal justice, voting rights and other issues, which has been sharply critical of Trump’s claims of voter fraud, found that in 2016, officials referred to authorities 30 of 23.5 million votes in 42 jurisdictions as having been cast by possible noncitizens.
Trump has frequently argued without evidence that immigrants are being let into the country to help Democrats win elections and that local officials are intentionally turning a blind eye — a charge that he has made with increasing frequency as he echoes his baseless 2020 claims that rampant fraud is occurring in the U.S. election system.
Davis, whose group is running the ads, has echoed the charges from Trump and insisted that the federal government isn’t doing enough to stop noncitizens from voting.
One target for the ad is Reading, Pennsylvania, a city of about 95,000 people 65 miles northwest of Philadelphia, where two-thirds of the population is Latino and where Trump’s campaign opened a “Latino Americans for Trump” office over the summer. In addition to targets in Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania, the ad is also being run in selected Georgia and Wisconsin towns and cities beginning for three weeks, with plans to continue.
Totaling $1 million, the spend is just a fraction of the more than $400 million that has been spent on ads in the presidential race across those states since Vice President Kamala Harris took over the top of the Democratic ticket. But the amount is significant considering that Republican groups regularly spend far less on Spanish-language ads than their Democratic counterparts.
The new spot, titled “Non-Citizens Cannot Vote in Federal Elections,” will air on ESPN Deportes, Galavisión, Univision, Fox Deportes and other Spanish-language cable channels, as well as daytime Spanish-language talk radio, the source said. It will also air on traditional and streaming cable and radio.
The spot begins with images of people casting their ballots while an English language subtitle reads, “In America, voting is a sacred right.” A U.S. soldier appears on screen shortly afterward, under which a chyron reads: “It is a right that men and women have been willing to lay down their lives to protect for centuries.”
The ad then shifts in tone, warning that it is “illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, including the 2024 election,” according to the English subtitles, and that doing so is a “federal crime and deportable offense.”
In a statement, Davis accused politicians of courting illegal votes and attacked states he said were refusing to enforce the law against noncitizens’ voting. He said the advertisement is “doing a public service” by informing people of the law.
“Left-wing radicals in Congress are blocking the SAVE Act, which would protect our federal elections from noncitizens voting. It is illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, but left-leaning states look the other way and don’t enforce the law,” said Davis, founder and president of the Article III Project. “We are doing a public service by informing people that only citizens can vote in federal elections. Certain politicians would prefer illegal immigrants vote for them—and risk imprisonment and deportation.”
Trump and Republicans have embraced noncitizen voting as a talking point, with legislation in the House that would require proof of citizenship to vote gaining Trump’s vocal support. Trump-allied lawmakers are pushing to tie the legislation to government funding bills.
It is a crime to register or vote as a noncitizen in all state and federal elections. It’s a crime that inherently creates evidence of the violation — both registering to vote and casting a ballot leave a paper trail that elected officials are required by law to routinely review. In most states, the names of people who are registered and vote are public, allowing for additional scrutiny. And undocumented immigrants overwhelmingly try to avoid contact with the government, not voluntarily engage with officials or draw attention to themselves.
Even as Trump talks disparagingly about illegal immigrants from Latin American countries, his campaign has sought to increase his popularity among Latino American voters — a vast and varied group with many descendants from immigrants from a myriad of countries who came to the U.S. decades or centuries ago.
Trump’s support among Latino voters has grown since 2016, and he is poised to win more Latino votes than any other Republican in recent history. The Harris campaign is focused in particular on reaching undecided Latino voters who may find Trump’s economic message compelling.
Post-debate polling by ABC News found immigration is Trump’s strongest issue among voters, who give him a 10-percentage-point lead over Harris. Latino voters increasingly support greater immigration control, with recent polls finding a rise in the group agreeing with GOP calls for more border security. The Article III Foundation’s new ad suggests an effort by Trump’s allies to capitalize on that and mobilize voters in areas where margins are razor thin.
After it shuttered many party offices that focused on minority outreach, Trump’s campaign rebranded its Hispanic outreach over the summer, launching “Latino Americans for Trump,” a decision an official said was aimed at emphasizing the point that Latinos are American.
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