A federal judge in California has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to stop most of its door-to-door voter fraud interviews in nine states through Election Day, finding that the operation likely violates the Voting Rights Act and relies on error-prone lists that could sweep up U.S. citizens.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the Northern District of California issued the ruling late Wednesday, less than two weeks before the November 3 midterm elections.
What the order does
The judge ordered federal immigration authorities to stop carrying out “elections-related field operations and field interviews” in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin when those operations are likely to involve people whom officials “know, suspect, or should reasonably know or suspect are U.S. citizens.”
The order stays in effect until polls close on Election Day. Martínez-Olguín put it on hold until 5 p.m. Friday to give the Trump administration time to appeal.
She stopped short of halting the field operations entirely. Investigations of suspected noncitizens can continue, and given how unreliable the government’s citizenship data has been, it is not yet clear how much the ruling will slow the department down.
Agents knocking on doors
The ruling targets an effort the administration calls the “Unlawful Voter Initiative,” in which hundreds of Homeland Security agents have fanned out to find evidence of noncitizen voting. As part of it, agents have been knocking on doors and asking people about their immigration status and whether they voted in recent elections. Homeland Security Investigations has posted photos and videos of agents approaching homes in multiple states.
Internal documents introduced in the case showed agents were directed to focus on the same nine states covered by the order.
Why the judge ruled against DHS
The lawsuit was brought by groups including the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United. Martínez-Olguín found they were likely to succeed in arguing that the policy breaks a section of the Voting Rights Act that makes it illegal to “intimidate, threaten, or coerce” people who help others vote or take part in voter mobilization.
She pointed to the “high likelihood of error” in how the government assembled its target lists, which draw on data from government agencies and commercially available data, and noted signs that the lists included naturalized citizens.
The judge also noted that, according to agency memos, the department “surveils, covertly infiltrates and interrogates the staff of nonprofits and churches conducting voter engagement,” and had targeted nearly 150 such groups as of July.
“Plaintiffs do not claim, nor does the Court find, that it is unlawful for federal officials to undertake investigations into unlawful voting in federal elections,” she wrote. “Rather, Plaintiffs seek to stop DHS from continuing to investigate U.S. citizens, who have a legal right to vote, in a way that intimidates and threatens the participation of CNA/NNU members from urging or aiding others to vote.”
The groups’ interests, “and the public’s interest in safe elections, free from interference or intimidation,” she wrote, “far exceed defendants’ purported interest in combating unlawful voting by non-U.S. citizens.”
DHS pushes back
In a statement Thursday, Homeland Security said it is “laser focused on identifying, prosecuting, and removing aliens who vote and dilute the votes of U.S. citizens,” and that it has “no plans to question or investigate people we believe to be U.S. citizens.”
The department has defended its methods, saying officials used multiple data sources beyond public voter data to verify registrants’ identities and weed out false positives.
What happens next
The administration has until Friday evening to seek an appeal before the order takes effect. If it stands, it will remain in place through the end of Election Day on November 3, “or as otherwise directed by the court.”
Reporting based on accounts from the Associated Press, CBS News, Bloomberg Law and The Washington Post.