DHS targeting naturalized Americans in voter investigations, civil rights groups say

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is unlawfully scrutinizing naturalized U.S. citizens and placing them at risk of disenfranchisement, civil rights groups alleged in a lawsuit Wednesday, less than a week before Election Day.

The lawsuit, filed in California, came as Homeland Security asked for an emergency order to restart election-related field operations in nine states after a federal judge paused them over concerns they could sweep up U.S. citizens.

The developments add to the growing legal war over the midterm elections being fought in federal courts across the country. President Donald Trump’s administration is waging an aggressive and highly visible effort to target alleged noncitizen voting — a campaign Democrats and voting rights groups fear will wrongly ensnare Americans entitled to cast a ballot.

Homeland Security and its sub-agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, “created a rushed, flawed process that brands naturalized and derivative citizens as potential criminals in the federal government’s eyes and then tries to disenfranchise them,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit was filed by OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates and Common Cause, with representation from the American Civil Liberties Union.

The lawsuit accuses Homeland Security of operating what it calls an “Unlawful Voter Initiative” — a policy by USCIS to target thousands of naturalized and derivative citizens for voter eligibility investigations and tracking. The allegations are rooted in a whistleblower report released in September by U.S. Senate Democrats that said DHS is investigating naturalized citizens without their knowledge.

"Naturalized citizens are U.S. citizens, with exactly the same right to vote as anyone born here," John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, said in a statement.

DHS lists

OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates and Common Cause are asking a federal judge to block Homeland Security from targeting naturalized citizens and from demanding that any state or local election official not count ballots from voters based on their inclusion in any list of alleged noncitizen voters compiled by DHS. 

The U.S. Department of Justice has sued California in an effort to force election officials to not count the ballots of 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters and demanded Washington state not count the ballots of 400 suspected noncitizens. 

Homeland Security compiled those lists.

Election officials in California and voting rights advocates have voiced deep reservations about the reliability and accuracy of the list. The federal judge in the California lawsuit signaled during a hearing Tuesday that he will likely assign a special master to examine the list, but was leaning against requiring election officials setting aside ballots.

Homeland Security didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

“The Trump Administration will not allow illegal aliens to steal the votes of hardworking American citizens. American elections are for Americans only,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a news release Wednesday touting a wave of voter fraud arrests.

Enforcement ramping up

For the past several weeks, Homeland Security has ramped up efforts to target alleged noncitizen voters. Dozens of noncitizens have been arrested across the country, with their names and photos publicized in news releases and on social media.

Noncitizen voting is a misdemeanor offense, though individuals can also face deportation.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, an appointee of President Joe Biden in the Northern District of California, blocked Homeland Security from conducting election-related field operations that could sweep up U.S. citizens. She issued a preliminary injunction after voting rights advocates alleged DHS was sending armed agents to homes to question residents about their voter status. 

The injunction bars operations in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin until polls close. 

On Tuesday, Homeland Security filed an emergency motion asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to pause the injunction. The Trump administration asked the appeals court to rule by Thursday.

“The preliminary injunction will continue to interfere with ongoing federal law enforcement operations relevant to the security and integrity of the midterm elections,” Gabriel Schonfeld, a U.S. Department of Justice lawyer, wrote in a court filing.

The 9th Circuit appears set to move swiftly, ordering all court papers in the case to be filed by Wednesday.

One in 10 eligible voters 

Roughly 10% of Americans eligible to vote this year are naturalized citizens, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census data. The percentage of eligible voters who are naturalized has risen from about 6.2% in 2000.

California has the largest share, with naturalized citizens comprising nearly 22% of eligible voters. Florida, New Jersey and New York have the next highest percentages, ranging from 17% to 20%.

Some voting rights advocates say they’ve heard from naturalized citizens who fear they could be caught up in the Trump administration’s push against noncitizen voting.

“It is a concern we have heard from our members across the country,” Omar Nourledin, senior vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause, told reporters on Wednesday. “And it is a well-founded concern given the junk data that the U.S. Department of Justice has used to compile these lists.”