ACLU sues to end DHS initiative targeting suspected noncitizen voters before midterms

Right · 2The American Civil Liberties Union and affiliates filed a lawsuit on Wednesday 28 October in California federal court seeking to end a Trump administration initiative that deploys hundreds of investigators to look for noncitizen voters. 1 2 Right · 1The groups allege the initiative illegally intimidates naturalized US citizens and exposes them to possible disenfranchisement. They also allege the administration is demanding that state election officials deny ballots to certain voters based on flawed eligibility data, which they say could undermine confidence in next week's midterm elections. 1 Right · 1The suit says the initiative has led to thousands of fully naturalized citizens facing improper investigations, door-to-door interrogations and potential disenfranchisement. It claims violations of the Civil Rights Act and of laws governing privacy and administrative procedures, and asks the court to vacate the initiative and order destruction of the records it created. 1

Right · 2Defendants are the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and US Citizenship and Immigration Services and Director Joseph Edlow. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 1 2 Right · 2DHS launched the Unlawful Voter Initiative in August, directing USCIS personnel to generate lists of people to investigate for possibly voting without being citizens. Since then the Justice Department has brought more than 100 cases accusing individuals of noncitizen voting, and has begun a legal effort to stop California counting mail ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters the administration alleges are noncitizens. 1 2 Right · 2Reuters reported separately on Wednesday that the administration has issued more than 100 subpoenas for records on tens of thousands of voters in at least a dozen states. 1 2

Right · 1ACLU Voting Rights Project attorney Theresa Lee said the administration "can't keep creating political stunts to sow distrust in our elections and lay the groundwork to question results they don't like." 1 Right · 2Last week a federal judge in California limited the initiative in nine states, but the plaintiffs say those limits expire at the end of Election Day on 3 November, which would let the initiative be used in future federal elections. 1 2 Right · 1President Donald Trump, whose Republican Party is in a tight fight to keep control of both houses of Congress, has repeatedly asserted that noncitizen voting is widespread; Reuters describes that claim as widely debunked. 1