Is it illegal for foreign nationals to volunteer for political campaigns in the United States? No, that's not true: The Federal Election Commission says foreign nationals can take part in campaign activities as unpaid volunteers. However, federal law prohibits them from giving money, making donations, spending funds or being involved in decisions about election-related activities at any level -- federal, state or local.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly Twitter, by majority X owner Elon Musk on October 17, 2024, under the caption "This is illegal." Musk's social media comment refers to a since-deleted post on LinkedIn (archived here) by Sofia Patel, head of operations for the Labour Party in the United Kingdom. Her entry said:
I have nearly 100 Labour Party staff (current and former) going to the US in the next few weeks heading to North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia. I have 10 spots available for anyone available to head to the battleground state of North Carolina - we will sort your housing. Email me on [email protected] if you're interested. Thanks!
This is what Musk's post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Oct 18 15:36:25 2024 UTC)
This post provided no evidence to support Musk's assertion that it's illegal for foreign nationals to volunteer for U.S. political campaigns.
Federal Election Commission
Contacted via email on October 18, 2024, Myles Martin, a public affairs specialist for the Federal Election Commission (FEC), said, "We cannot comment on specific situations," but directed Lead Stories to its website (archived here), which states that foreign nationals can participate in political campaigns as volunteers.
The FEC site's page on "Volunteer Activity" outlines the circumstances under which a foreign national may participate:
Foreign national as campaign volunteer
Although foreign nationals may not make contributions or expenditures (including advances of personal funds) in connection with any federal, state or local election, an individual who is a foreign national may participate in campaign activities as an uncompensated volunteer. In doing so, the volunteer must be careful not to participate in the decision-making process of the campaign. The Federal Election Campaign Act (the Act) and Commission regulations specifically prohibit foreign nationals from participating in the decisions of any person involving election-related activity. For example, a foreign national volunteer may attend committee events and campaign strategy meetings, but may not be involved in the management of the committee.
The FEC's page (archived here) on "Foreign nationals" goes into additional detail:
Federal law prohibits contributions, donations, expenditures (including independent expenditures) and disbursements solicited, directed, received or made directly or indirectly by or from foreign nationals in connection with any federal, state or local election. This prohibition includes advances of personal funds, contributions or donations made to political party committees and organizations, state or local party committees for the purchase or construction of an office building funds under 11 CFR 300.35, and contributions or disbursements to make electioneering communications.
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Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims concerning the 2024 U.S. general election are here.
