Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer set off a firestorm this week when he took the stand for illegal voters.
Specifically, Schumer warned that the SAVE America Act would allow ICE to remove “tens of billions” of illegal aliens from the nation’s voter rolls.
Speaking to reporters at a Capitol Hill press conference Tuesday, Schumer pushed back on the claim the SAVE America Act was simply a voter ID bill.
“Their bill isn’t voter ID … It is about voter registration. It allows ICE to kick tens of billions of people off the rolls, off the rolls,” Schumer said. “And they don’t tell them until election day and you show up and you say, ‘You’re not registered anymore, you’re not registered here.'”
He continued: “It’s about the voter registration rolls — destroying them, purging them, not letting people know and taking the rights in a algorithm put together by ICE, put together by DOGE [Department of Government Efficiency] and [Elon] Musk. It’s an outrage.”
Of course, there’s not “tens of billions” of people in the entire planet Earth, let alone voters in the United States.
Schumer’s statement spread quickly online, with critics noting there are roughly 8 billion people alive on the planet. Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow weighed in on his radio show Wednesday, saying Schumer had revealed what Democrats are actually fighting to protect.
“The thought that he’s dying on this hill, we need illegal aliens to remain on the voter rolls. That’s the whole point. ICE is kicking them off,” Marlow said.
The SAVE America Act, passed by the House on February 11, would require proof of U.S. citizenship — such as a passport, REAL ID-compliant identification indicating citizenship, or a birth certificate paired with a government-issued photo ID — in order to register to vote in federal elections. It would also require photo identification to cast a ballot.
President Donald Trump has demanded the Senate pass the bill before he signs any other legislation, calling it essential to Republican chances in the 2026 midterms. However, the bill faces an uphill climb in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority but would need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected Democratic claims about the bill Tuesday.
“The SAVE America Act does not prohibit anyone from voting with the exception of illegal aliens,” Leavitt said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, however, has said the bill is unlikely to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold in its current form.