US judge blocks DHS operations targeting alleged non-citizen voters in nine states

A federal judge in the United States has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to stop operations aimed at identifying alleged non-citizen voters in nine states. The ruling comes less than two weeks before the midterm elections and affects federal efforts in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. The case adds a new legal constraint to a broader push by the administration to highlight voter fraud ahead of the vote.

US District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin said the investigations likely violate a provision of the Voting Rights Act that bars voter intimidation. In her ruling, she said the department may have relied on flawed data in carrying out the operations. She wrote that the approach could create an objectively reasonable fear of law enforcement entanglements that discourages citizens from urging or helping others to exercise their right to vote.

The order was issued on Thursday, according to the court ruling cited in the case. The Department of Homeland Security has publicly described the campaign as an effort to identify people who have committed voter fraud. In some local offices, agents posted images of themselves knocking on the doors of suspects, according to the material presented in the case.

After the ruling, the department said its investigations were aimed at removing non-citizens who vote and dilute the votes of US citizens. It also said it had no plans to question or investigate people it believes to be US citizens. The lawsuit was brought by the California Nurses Association, National Nurses United, the Voto Latino Foundation, and San Francisco and Santa Clara County.

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Their lawyers argued that some US citizens were wrongly identified and questioned during the investigations. They said the department built its lists on bad data, did not check how often it was wrong, and sent agents to people's homes weeks before an election. The judge's order gives the plaintiffs a significant interim victory as the dispute continues.

The ruling matters because election security claims and voter intimidation concerns often collide in the final stretch before a national vote. The case also highlights the legal limits on federal agencies when they seek to investigate alleged election fraud. The supporting material says isolated cases of fraud are recorded in every election cycle, but that such cases remain exceedingly rare.

It also says there has been no evidence that non-citizen voters have affected the outcome of any election at any level in the country. What happens next will depend on whether the department challenges the order or changes its approach in the nine states covered by the ruling. The court's reasoning, including its reliance on the Voting Rights Act, may shape how similar federal investigations are handled before the midterm vote.

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