As debate over voter citizenship laws intensifies, a misleading video clip is making the rounds on social media — and it’s being used to falsely claim that former President Barack Obama once told undocumented immigrants to vote.
The clip originates from a video produced by mitú, a Latino-focused media company, in which actress Gina Rodriguez sat down with Obama to address common myths surrounding voting. Online posts have distorted his answers to two separate questions — one about whether elections are rigged, and another about whether voting could expose a person’s undocumented family members to immigration authorities.
Here is a closer look at what actually happened.
THE CLAIM: A clip from a 2016 interview shows then-President Obama openly encouraging people living in the U.S. illegally to cast ballots in the upcoming election.
THE FACTS: This claim is false. The video has been cut down in a way that strips away the context of Obama’s remarks. In the complete version, Obama is clearly speaking to Latino citizens and others who are legally eligible to vote, encouraging them to participate. He makes no argument in favor of noncitizen voting.
Despite that, the misleading clip has spread widely. One post on X stated: “Now that election fraud is in the spotlight, this video is arguably the most concrete evidence that the Dems use illegals to cheat.” The post, which had been liked and shared more than 8,500 times as of Thursday, also claimed Obama “assured them that ICE and Federal law enforcement will NOT seek them out or deport them if they vote.” The clip used in that post begins with Obama saying, “If you want to vote and you show up at your polling place, they can’t stop you.”
When viewed in full, the video shows Rodriguez asking Obama whether the election is rigged. He responds that it is not, but acknowledges that the U.S. has “a tradition of making it hard for people to vote,” a practice he said has historically been aimed at African Americans. He then continues: “But here’s the good news — even though people try to discourage you from voting, if you want to vote and you show up at your polling place, they can’t stop you from voting.”
Rodriguez then raises a concern many immigrants share — that going to the polls might somehow tip off authorities about relatives who are undocumented.
“So if I vote, will immigration know where I live? Will they come for my family?” she asks.
Obama replied, “Not true. And the reason is, first of all, when you vote, you are a citizen yourself.” He went on to say that voting is an opportunity to speak not only for oneself, but also for others in one’s community, including those “who can’t legally vote.”
A spokesperson for Obama declined to offer any comment on the matter.
The facts on noncitizen voting are well established. Multiple studies and investigations conducted across various states have found that noncitizens casting ballots in federal elections is extremely uncommon. A federal law enacted in 1996 makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote in presidential or congressional races. Those who do so can face fines, up to one year in prison, and deportation.
When registering to vote, individuals must confirm under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens. Federal law also requires states to regularly review and update their voter rolls, removing anyone found to be ineligible — a process that can flag undocumented immigrants who may have registered.
No state constitution explicitly permits noncitizens to vote, and many states have laws barring noncitizens from voting in state-level races. Some local governments do allow noncitizens to participate in certain municipal elections, such as those for school board or city council seats.
Still, claims of widespread noncitizen voting have continued to circulate. In a recent national address, Trump said a new Department of Homeland Security investigation had identified roughly 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in federal elections. However, there is no allegation that any of those individuals actually cast a ballot. The data, drawn from state voter rolls and public records that are frequently incomplete or inaccurate, has not been independently verified.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, revealed Tuesday that approximately 6,600 people who had indicated they were noncitizens when obtaining New Jersey driver’s licenses or state IDs were improperly added to voter rolls in 2023 and 2024. She attributed the problem to a software error in the Motor Vehicle Commission’s system and said early findings showed fewer than 400 of those individuals went on to actually vote.
The White House pointed to that revelation as justification for Trump’s SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and establish nationwide voter ID requirements. The bill has cleared the U.S. House but has yet to receive a vote in the Senate, where it faces opposition from some members of both parties.
