Judge blocks most DHS field operations focused on voter fraud

A federal judge in California blocked most Department of Homeland Security (DHS) field operations focused on voter fraud in a Wednesday court ruling.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, appointed under former President Biden, barred the DHS from conducting “elections-related field operations and field interviews” in nine states — California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.

Operations are only blocked if the DHS or Secretary Markwayne Mullin suspects people who they “know, suspect, or should reasonably know or suspect are U.S. citizens.”

“Plaintiffs do not claim, nor does the Court find, that it is unlawful for federal officials to undertake investigations into unlawful voting in federal elections,” Martínez-Olguín wrote in her 19-page ruling . “Rather, Plaintiffs seek to stop DHS from continuing to investigate U.S. citizens, who have a legal right to vote, in a way that intimidates and threatens the participation of CNA/NNU members from urging or aiding others to vote.”

Martínez-Olguín continued that the relevant operations this lawsuit concerned were reliant on “a target list of such individuals from a variety of sources” which were “voluminous and unreliable.”

She noted that “even under the best conditions, there is a high likelihood of error in review because there is no federal database containing citizenship status of U.S. residents.”

“The time limitations implemented during the Surge further exacerbate the risk of error,” Martínez-Olguín said, adding that DHS agents were ordered to take “no more than twelve minutes to eliminate a person from the target list using the commercial databases.”

The ruling comes less than two weeks from the midterm election on Nov. 3, as Mullin has attempted to launch operations across the country into alleged voter fraud. Martínez-Olguín’s orders will remain in effect until Election Day at 8 p.m. “or when polling places close.”

This also deals a blow to the Trump administration’s effort to monitor polling places and combat alleged voter fraud. Other lawsuits filed against the administration are pending, including one where the city of Denver argued ICE agents violated federal law that prohibited the presence of “ troops at polls .”

Mullin said earlier this year that ICE would “only” be deployed at polls during the midterms if a “threat” arises.

The Trump administration is still pursuing restrictions on mail-in voting and creating voter lists — though the window to implement these rules is closing.

When asked about the ruling, a DHS spokesperson told The Hill the department was “laser focused on identifying, prosecuting, and removing aliens who vote and dilute the votes of U.S. citizens. ONLY Americans should elect American leaders.”

“We have no plans to question or investigate people we believe to be U.S. citizens,” the spokesperson continued.