Rep. Millis Calls for Sec. of State Elaine Marshall’s Resignation for Issuing Notary Public Commissions to Illegal Immigrants

After more than 20 years in her position as North Carolina’s Secretary of State, Democrat Elaine Marshall’s career may be coming to an end much sooner than she anticipated.

At a 11:00 A.M. press conference Tuesday morning, Rep. Chris Millis (R-Pender) called on Marshall to resign from office or face impeachment after an investigation brought to light the more than 320 notary public commissions Marshall issued to illegal immigrants in violation of state and federal law.

“I have sent a letter to the North Carolina Secretary of State, Elaine Marshall, requesting her immediate resignation from office,” said Millis. “I have made it clear that if the Secretary chooses not to resign, I will proceed with all legislative actions, including a resolution of impeachment.”

While this will surely be the first time most North Carolinians hear about Marshall’s illegal conduct, it’s far from a new story.

Marshall’s illegal actions were first brought to light during her 2016 re-election campaign when Republican challenger Michael LaPaglia began pressing the Secretary of State on the issue.

Repeatedly, Marshall denied any wrong doing, going so far as to flat out lie about the issue during a televised debate with LaPaglia.

In September of 2016, the LaPaglia campaign began pushing to get answers about the illicit behavior of the Secretary of State’s office, after a concerned citizen, who had taken a notary public course at a western North Carolina community college, brought to their attention that many students in the course were in the country on temporary work authorizations issued as part of Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

LaPaglia and his team dug deeper into the allegations, and were able to discover that other DACA immigrants, in violation of state and federal law, had already been issued notary public commissions.

A video of an undercover investigation published by the Daily Caller in October of last year showed a citizen journalist proving that illegal immigrants were illegally issued notary public commissions by the Secretary of State.

The video proved that Secretary of State Elaine Marshall had been illegally granting commissions to illegal immigrants as far back as Obama’s 2012 executive amnesty.

With election day just weeks away, LaPaglia began pushing harder of the issue, considering the incredible amount of evidence available.

During a televised debate with Marshall, LaPaglia presented the evidence of the Secretary of State’s illegal behavior, only to have Marshall constantly deny, and lie to the people of North Carolina, that she had issued any notary public commissions to any DACA immigrants.

With no coverage on the issue from the mainstream media, Marshall was able to escape with victory and continue her now more than 20 year reign as Secretary of State.

Fast forward to this year, when Rep. Chris Millis begins to investigate the issue.

Millis requested all of the files from the Secretary of State’s office regarding anyone who had used a DACA authorization to obtain a notary public commission from the Secretary’s office.

After doing a deep dive into the files turned over by the Secretary of State’s office, Millis discovered more than 320 instances in which Marshall had issued notary public commissions to DACA immigrants.

At today’s press conference, Millis unveiled those findings to the media and public, noting the state and federal laws Marshall has violated.

According to a press release from Millis’ office, “State law requires that notaries meet a variety of requirements, including that they “reside legally in the United States.” Legal residence in the United States is conferred only via citizenship or by way of a Permanent Resident Alien Card (Form I-551, commonly known as a “green card”), issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).”

“Millis says that documents obtained from Marshall show that her office routinely accepted another form of alien identification, a “DACA card” in lieu of green cards as proof of legal residency,” the release continued. “A DACA card is a temporary employment authorization to facilitate safe and legitimate work and income for otherwise undocumented aliens and does not confer legal immigration status.”

The investigation by Millis discovered that Marshall’s office allowed illegal immigrants to use DACA Driver Licenses, DACA Decision Approval Notices from Homeland Security, DACA Employment Authorization Approval Notices from Homeland Security, Mexican National Passports, and a NAFTA work/travel visa, as documentation to fulfill the “legal status” requirement.

According to Millis, “one notary commissioned by the Secretary was “an alien against whom a final order of deportation or removal exists.”

“None of these 320+ notaries reside legally in the United States, as our North Carolina Notary Law requires,” continued Millis. “Nor do they meet the requirements set forth on the application to become a notary, published by the Secretary of State’s office.”

Making this matter even more troubling, Marshall’s consistent disregard for state and federal law could have created an opportunity for massive voter fraud, due to the fact that absentee ballots can be authorized by notaries public.

At the conclusion of Tuesday’s press conference, Rep. Millis reiterated that should Secretary Marshall choose not to resign, he will begin the process for the legislature to impeach her.

This is a developing story.

We will have more information for you as it becomes available.

UPDATE (12:34 P.M.):

In his press conference this morning, Rep. Chris Millis outlined the fact that Secretary Marshall’s policy of granting notary public commissions to illegal immigrants creates opportunities for voter fraud.

“In this era of heightened sensitivity to voter fraud, election interference, and tension over immigration policy it is especially troubling that the Secretary has commissioned more than 320 alien notaries who can single-handedly validate absentee ballots,” said Millis.

UPDATE (2:42 P.M.):

Secretary of State Elaine Marshall has finally commented on Rep. Chris Millis’ call for her resignation, releasing a statement in which she doubles down on her mischaracterization of state and federal law.

“This is simply a rehashing of the political attack used by my opponent [Michael LaPaglia] in the recent election,” Marshall said in a statement. “The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has authorized the specifically mentioned notaries to work here lawfully. That federally authorized status continues to be unchanged by the new Presidential administration.”

Clearly, Marshall does not understand the difference between being authorized to “work here lawfully” and being a notary public, a ministerial officer of North Carolina.