US judge blocks federal operations seeking to identify non-citizen voters

Homeland Security targets nine states in fraud investigations that critics say intimidate voters.

Al JazeeraAl Jazeera Staff2026-10-22 21:52查看原文 ↗

Homeland Security targets nine states in a push to identify voting fraud, a move critics denounce as tantamount to voter intimidation.

The US Department of Homeland Security has reportedly carried out field interviews to enquire about voters' citizenship status in several states [File: Annabelle Gordon/Reuters]

A United States federal judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to halt operations aimed at finding non-citizen voters in nine states ahead of the midterm elections .

The ruling by US District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin said the investigations likely violate a provision of the Voting Rights Act that prohibits voter intimidation. She further said the DHS may have relied on flawed data in its investigations.

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That leads to “an objectively reasonable fear of law enforcement entanglements that intimidates citizens from urging or aiding others in exercising their right to vote”, she wrote.

The order applies to federal efforts targeting California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.

The DHS has publicised what it has described as a push to identify individuals who have committed voter fraud, with some local offices posting photos of agents knocking on the doors of suspects.

The operations come as the administration of US President Donald Trump has sought to highlight instances of voter fraud ahead of the November 3 midterm vote.

While there are recorded instances of fraud in every election cycle, such isolated cases remain exceedingly rare.

There has been no evidence to indicate that non-citizen voters have influenced the outcome of any election at any level in the country.

In a statement following Thursday’s ruling, the DHS maintained that its investigations were aimed at “removing aliens who vote and dilute the votes of US citizens”.

“We have no plans to question or investigate people we believe to be US citizens,” it said.

In their lawsuit challenging the DHS’s efforts, the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United, along with the Voto Latino Foundation, San Francisco and Santa Clara County, said that some US citizens felt they were wrongly identified and questioned as part of the investigations.

A lawyer representing the groups said it was “clear from the start that DHS built its lists on bad data, never checked how often it was wrong, and recklessly sent agents to people’s homes weeks before an election”.

Benjamin Farley, the supervisory counsel for democracy defense at the National Immigration Law Center, said the ruling sent a strong message about voter intimidation ahead of the midterm vote.

“Yesterday’s decision is a clear rebuke of the government’s efforts to scare voters away from the polls this November and a reminder that all US citizens – regardless of color, place of birth, or the nationality of their family members – have the right to participate in American elections free of intimidation,” he said.

“No armed federal agent is going to stop us from casting our vote.”

国土安全部针对九个州展开行动，以查明选举舞弊行为，批评人士谴责此举无异于恐吓选民。

据报道，美国国土安全部已在多个州开展实地访谈，以了解选民的公民身份。[图片：Annabelle Gordon/路透社]

美国联邦法官已下令国土安全部停止在九个州开展的旨在寻找中期选举前非公民选民的行动。

美国地方法院法官阿拉塞利·马丁内斯-奥尔金裁定，这些调查可能违反了《投票权法》中禁止恐吓选民的条款。她还表示，国土安全部在调查中可能使用了有缺陷的数据。

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她写道，这导致“人们对执法部门的介入产生客观合理的恐惧，从而恐吓公民，使他们不敢敦促或帮助他人行使投票权”。

该命令适用于针对加利福尼亚州、康涅狄格州、佐治亚州、密苏里州、内华达州、纽约州、宾夕法尼亚州、华盛顿州和威斯康星州的联邦行动。

美国国土安全部公开表示，将加大力度查明实施选民欺诈的个人，一些地方办事处还发布了特工敲嫌疑人家门的照片。

此次行动正值美国总统唐纳德·特朗普政府试图在11月3日中期选举前强调选民欺诈行为之际。