By Clare Foran

(CNN) — The House passed a Republican-led bill Thursday to require documentary proof of US citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, despite the fact that it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.

The move is a push by House Republicans that aligns with actions President Donald Trump is taking from the White House. Lawmakers voted 220-208 to send the bill to the Senate for consideration. Four Democrats voted with House Republicans in support of the measure.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has touted the legislation, saying that it will safeguard and protect elections. But critics warn that the bill – known as the SAVE Act – threatens to restrict voting access by creating unnecessary hurdles that will make it harder to register to vote and wrongfully disenfranchise legitimate voters.

It is already against the law for people who aren’t US citizens to vote in federal elections, and experts say it rarely happens.

Now that the bill has passed the House, it would next need to be taken up by the GOP-led Senate where its fate is unclear. The measure would require support from at least some Democrats to pass the chamber.

House Republicans passed the SAVE Act during the last session of Congress, but it did not advance in the then-Democratic-controlled Senate.

In addition to requiring documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration in federal elections, the bill also includes provisions for removing noncitizens from federal voter registration rolls.

As many as 21 million American citizens who are old enough to vote don’t have easy access to a birth certificate, passport, or other documentation proving their citizenship, according to research from the Brennan Center for Justice and partner organizations, including the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement at the University of Maryland and VoteRiders.

“This is a solution in search of a problem that will unfortunately disenfranchise millions of Americans,” Sean Morales-Doyle, the director of voting rights at the Brennan Center, said of the House bill in an interview.

Democratic groups and non-partisan organizations separately have sued over an executive order targeting election procedures signed by Trump, kicking off a court fight over the president’s attempt to unilaterally revamp how elections are run.

In March, Trump signed an executive order seeking to boost proof of citizenship requirements for voter registration.

CNN’s Ethan Cohen, Fredreka Schouten and Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.

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