Politics
Federal court moves to halt DHS voter-status operations across nine states
A federal judge ordered a temporary stop to Homeland Security election-related field operations in nine states after voting-rights groups said armed agents’ visits could intimidate voters. The order is paused until Friday to give the Trump administration time to appeal.
A federal judge in California has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to stop election-related field operations in nine states, finding that the prospect of federal agents questioning residents about their voter status could deter people from participating in elections and voter outreach.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday night, Oct. 21, covering California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. She paused the order until Friday, giving the Trump administration time to appeal. The injunction is set to remain in place through the close of polls on Election Day.
The case was brought by San Francisco, Santa Clara County, the California Nurses Association, National Nurses United and the Voto Latino Foundation. The groups alleged that Homeland Security was sending armed agents to people’s homes to ask about their eligibility to vote.
Martínez-Olguín wrote that the evidence pointed to an “objectively reasonable fear of law enforcement entanglements” that could intimidate citizens from helping others exercise their voting rights. She also found that the harms reported by nurses involved in voter education and outreach warranted court intervention.
The case comes amid an intensified Trump administration effort to investigate suspected noncitizen voting. Studies have found that noncitizen voting is rare. The Justice Department is separately suing California over roughly 20,000 voters it says it suspects are not citizens, seeking to prevent officials from counting their ballots.
A Homeland Security Investigations memo filed in court described a “surge initiative” that began Sept. 1 and included field interviews. The memo named California, Georgia, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin as September targets; other locations were redacted.
The Justice Department has argued in court that the federal government can investigate potential noncitizen voting, saying that barring such investigations would harm the public interest. Homeland Security had not responded to a request for comment on the injunction by Wednesday night.
Beau Tremitiere, an attorney with Protect Democracy, which represents the plaintiffs, said the ruling affirmed that citizens, whether U.S.-born or naturalized, should be able to vote without harassment by armed government agents.
The ruling adds to a broader legal and political fight over federal involvement in election administration ahead of the midterm elections. A separate lawsuit filed Tuesday by Democratic groups and congressional Democrats seeks to block what they describe as efforts by Trump to intimidate election officials.