A federal judge has ordered immigration agents to stop knocking on doors in nine states to question people about whether they’re citizens and whether they voted, ruling the practice likely amounts to illegal voter intimidation. U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín said late Wednesday that the Department of Homeland Security’s operation likely violates the Voting Rights Act, CBS News reported.
The order covers California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. It’s set to take effect Friday at 5 p.m., giving the government time to appeal, and would last until the polls close on Election Day.
What was DHS doing at people’s doors?
Homeland Security Investigations agents were visiting homes to ask people about their immigration status and recent voting, part of the administration’s push against noncitizen voting. HSI even posted photos and videos of the visits. The judge found the target list relied on government and commercial data with a “high likelihood of error,” including millions of records she said came from “independent sources of questionable provenance,” NPR reported.
The ruling bars agents from “elections-related field operations and field interviews” when they know, suspect or should reasonably suspect the person is a U.S. citizen, and from acting solely on database matches without more investigation.
Is noncitizen voting a real problem?
It happens, but rarely. State reviews and audits have consistently found voting by noncitizens to be extremely rare. The Justice Department says 156 people have been charged with voting-fraud offenses since the start of the Trump administration, and it recently arrested several dozen green card holders in California accused of illegally registering. In Florida, the state announced 20 voter fraud arrests out of nearly 11 million ballots cast in 2024.
DHS said it is “laser focused on identifying, prosecuting, and removing aliens who vote and dilute the votes of U.S. citizens” and has “no plans to question or investigate people we believe to be U.S. citizens.” The lawsuit was brought by the California Nurses Association, National Nurses United and Protect Democracy, along with San Francisco, Santa Clara County and Voto Latino Foundation.
What should I do if DHS agents come to my door about voting?
You aren’t required to answer questions or let agents inside without a judicial warrant signed by a judge. You can ask to see identification and any warrant. If you’re a citizen, being questioned doesn’t change your right to vote, and you can report intimidation to your state or county election office. In the nine states covered, once the order takes effect, agents shouldn’t be doing these visits with likely citizens at all.
The BeezLoop Take
Nobody should vote who isn’t allowed to, and prosecuting real cases is fine. But sending armed federal agents to knock on citizens’ doors two weeks before an election, based on data a judge calls error-prone, isn’t fraud prevention. It’s the kind of thing that makes eligible voters, especially immigrants who became citizens, think twice about showing up.
When the problem is this rare and the method is this broad, the main effect is fear. The judge saw that. The government should accept the ruling instead of fighting to keep agents on doorsteps through Election Day.
The open question: will the administration appeal before Friday’s deadline, and will the order hold through Nov. 3?
Also on BeezLoop: Florida announced 20 voter fraud arrests out of 10,986,175 ballots, and DHS planned a surge in voter fraud investigations.
Sources: CBS News · NPR, via OPB · MS NOW (video)
