A federal judge in California on Wednesday blocked most Department of Homeland Security field operations focused on voter fraud, dealing a setback to the Trump administration less than two weeks before the midterm election.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, who was appointed under former President Biden, barred DHS from conducting “elections-related field operations and field interviews” in nine states: California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.
The order applies only to operations targeting people whom DHS or Secretary Markwayne Mullin “know, suspect, or should reasonably know or suspect are U.S. citizens.”
In her 19-page ruling, Martínez-Olguín made clear that the case was not a challenge to the federal government’s authority to look into illegal voting.
“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,” she wrote. “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.”
The judge took issue with how the operations were carried out. She wrote that the operations at the center of the lawsuit relied on “a target list of such individuals from a variety of sources,” which she described as “voluminous and unreliable.”
Martínez-Olguín also pointed to what she saw as a fundamental problem with verifying citizenship.
“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,” she wrote.
She added that “the time limitations implemented during the Surge further exacerbate the risk of error,” noting that DHS agents had been ordered to take “no more than twelve minutes to eliminate a person from the target list using the commercial databases.”
The ruling lands as the country heads toward the Nov. 3 midterm election, with Mullin having sought to launch operations nationwide into alleged voter fraud.
Martínez-Olguín’s order will remain in effect until 8 p.m. on Election Day “or when polling places close.”
The decision is a blow to the Trump administration’s push to monitor polling places and crack down on alleged voter fraud.
It is also not the only legal challenge the administration faces on this front. Other lawsuits against the administration remain pending, including one in which the city of Denver argued that ICE agents violated a federal law prohibiting the presence of “troops at polls.”
Mullin said earlier this year that ICE would “only” be deployed at polling places during the midterms if a “threat” arises.
Despite Wednesday’s ruling, the Trump administration is still pursuing restrictions on mail-in voting and working to create voter lists. However, with Election Day fast approaching, the window to put those rules in place is closing.
The ruling sets up a high-stakes clash over election oversight in the final stretch before voters head to the polls, as the administration’s efforts to combat alleged fraud run up against challenges in federal court.
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