Biden-appointed judge blocks voter-fraud probes in battleground states just days before midterms
A Biden-appointed federal judge in California has halted certain Department of Homeland Security investigations into suspected illegal voting just days before midterm elections.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022, ruled Wednesday that DHS must halt certain investigations into suspected illegal voting. The judge, who previously worked at the ACLU on women's and immigrants' rights, cited concerns over voter intimidation.
The activist groups suing DHS demonstrate[d] that they are likely to succeed in their claim that Defendants have run afoul of the Voting Rights Act's prohibition of intimidating voter assistance and mobilization, according to Martínez-Olguín.
Investigation Methods Questioned
The judge argued that the public's interests in safe elections, free from interference or intimidation, far exceed (the government's) purported interest in combating unlawful voting by non-U.S. citizens. The Trump administration maintained that noncitizen voting in federal elections is a crime and that DHS has statutory authority to investigate suspected violations.
DHS is laser focused on identifying, prosecuting, and removing aliens who vote and dilute the votes of U.S. citizens. ONLY Americans should elect American leaders.
States Affected
Martínez-Olguín's order blocks DHS from carrying out certain field investigations into suspected illegal voting involving U.S. citizens in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. Several of these states face high-profile elections in November.
The judge delayed enforcement of her order until Friday, giving the Trump administration time to appeal, and set the restrictions to expire on Election Day unless otherwise ordered. The administration has yet to produce evidence of widespread noncitizen voting, though cases have been documented.
Previous Cases
Earlier this year, New Jersey erroneously placed over 6,000 non-citizens on its voter rolls. The Justice Department announced charges against 16 individuals in September, including noncitizens accused of voting illegally in federal elections, and brought additional election-related charges in October.
Lawyers representing the federal government conceded that some American citizens may have been looked at in connection with DHS' investigations, but contended that in-person interviews were "expressly designed to resolve the discrepancies." The judge found that DHS used unreliable source data and sent armed agents to homes to conduct interviews, which could constitute intimidation.
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