Armed and uniformed, federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security have been knocking on doors in several states to ask residents about their immigration status and to ask if they have registered to vote or cast ballots in past elections, according to a CBS News investigation. The operation is part of an effort to root out potential non-citizen voters before the midterm elections. DHS has alleged that there could be as many as 250,000 citizens illegally registered to vote, although election experts have questioned the accuracy of this figure. According to the Department of Justice, only 156 people have been charged with crimes related to voter fraud since the beginning of the Trump administration. There are 227 million registered voters in the United States. Critics say sending armed federal agents to the doors of U.S. residents could be intimidating to legal voters. “What we’re seeing now is the federal government inserting itself into the state process to verify their voting roles in an unprecedented way,” said Jessica Marsden, an attorney with Protect Democracy, a left-wing advocacy group that is suing the federal agency over the door-knocking campaign. “And they’re doing it in a way that seems designed as much as possible to scare legal voters from participating.” Photos released by HSI NorCal of Homeland Security agents knocking on doors in the San Francisco area. X/@HSINorCal Home visits increased in September, at the height of the midterm campaign season, and continued this past weekend. The Justice Department announced Monday that Homeland Security agents in California arrested more than 20 people, all of them green card holders, on accusations that they had illegally registered or cast a vote. As part of that raid, dozens of federal agents arrived at the residence of a 72-year-old Belizean man, who was taken from his home in his pajamas and arrested on charges that he allegedly voted illegally in the last four elections. “HSI is actively rooting out and investigating voter fraud wherever it can be found,” a DHS spokesperson said. “Under President Trump, HSI is committed to restoring the integrity of our election systems and ensuring that American citizens and only American citizens elect American leaders.” Eric Balliet, a former Homeland Security Investigations agent, said the door-knocking operation is a significant departure from traditional law enforcement activities. “In my 23 years with HSI, I was never involved in or aware of any initiative incident that sent special agents to private residences to verify voter eligibility,” said Balliet, who served in the federal government during multiple administrations. In June, DHS ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to assist in deportations of suspected noncitizen voters. Homeland Security Investigations, the agency that conducts the home visits, is one of ICE’s law enforcement forces and typically focuses on cross-border criminal investigations such as child exploitation, drug smuggling and money laundering. Months after the announcement, hundreds of agents were pulled from their cases and assigned to track down suspected noncitizen voters as part of a “surge” initiative, according to internal documents reviewed by CBS News. The directive, first reported by CNN, describes a “criminal voter fraud” effort that includes “field reviews” in at least six states, including California, Georgia, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. Photos and videos posted on A photo from the Kansas City HSI story shows four officers at the door of a woman standing on her porch holding a child’s hand. Homeland Security agents making an arrest in the Kansas City area. X/@HSIKansasCity La mujer es identificada en un comunicado de prensa del Departamento de Justicia como Mariana Alexandra Dewey, una ciudadana peruana que fue acusada de cuatro cargos de delitos relacionados con fraude electoral, incluida la emisión ilegal de un voto en las elecciones de 2024. Su caso aún no ha sido escuchado. His attorney declined to respond to CBS News’ request for comment. For civil rights advocates, the show of force has raised concerns about the chilling effect it could have on legal voters. “It’s sending a signal to a much broader community: Don’t show up at the polls. Don’t vote,” said Dr. Carol Anderson, a professor of African American Studies at Emory University. “And so if you are someone who has registered to vote and is a naturalized citizen, what you see in that community is that, because this is not a regime that makes those discernments, they will stay away.” from the voting booth.” A DHS spokesperson said, “DHS and DOJ are focused on processing and expelling foreign voters and preventing the dilution of the votes of American citizens…Those who are here legally and are not violating other laws have nothing to fear.” “Target list” In one video, agents are filmed holding a document that says “Target list.” That list can be far-reaching, said an HSI agent familiar with the effort who asked to speak Anonymous DHS pulls data from internal databases, voter lists and other data sets. Employees then try to match the names with citizenship data provided by US Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS. In September, a USCIS whistleblower said employees were asked to review election information for tens of thousands of people across the country, including citizens. about 12 minutes per topic. DHS has defended the data matching program and the work USCIS has done to identify potential noncitizen voters. “Far from being rushed or untrained, these screening efforts are conducted diligently and professionally,” a DHS spokesperson said. “There is no crime quota. DHS will pursue each and every illegal voter to the fullest extent of the law.” “There is every reason to expect that there will be many, many more false positives on these lists,” Marsden said. He noted that Homeland Security officials initially said they had identified nearly 16,000 noncitizens on Nevada voter lists, but ultimately were unable to provide evidence of a single illegally registered voter. Go deeper with The Free Press at:
