A federal judge ruled Wednesday night that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s practice of knocking on doors and asking people about their immigration status (and whether they have voted in recent elections) likely violates the Voting Rights Act. The ruling targeted an operation that was documented by a CBS News investigation earlier Wednesday. Homeland Security Investigations has released photos and videos of agents approaching homes in several states. The Trump administration says the practice is part of an effort to suppress noncitizen voting, but critics say it could intimidate legal voters. In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín ordered federal immigration authorities to stop conducting “election-related field operations and field interviews” in nine states, including California and New York, if the operations are likely to involve people who government officials “know, suspect, or should reasonably know or suspect are U.S. citizens.” His order will remain in effect until polls close on Election Day. She stayed the ruling until 5pm on Friday, which will give the government a chance to appeal. Martínez-Olguín sided with groups that sued over increased investigation into noncitizen voting, including the California Nurses Association and the National Association of United Nurses. It found that the policy likely conflicted with a section of the Voting Rights Act that makes it illegal to “intimidate, threaten or coerce” those who help people vote or participate in voter mobilization efforts. “Plaintiffs do not assert, nor does the Court find, that it is unlawful for federal officials to undertake investigations into illegal voting in federal elections,” the judge wrote. “Rather, plaintiffs seek to prevent DHS from continuing to investigate American citizens, who have the legal right to vote, in a manner that intimidates and threatens the participation of ANC/NNU members from urging or assisting others to vote.” Martínez-Olguín also noted the “high probability of error” in the government’s process for assembling a list of potential targets, which includes data from government agencies and commercially available data. Protect Democracy, one of the groups that sued over the policy, welcomed the ruling. “It was clear from the beginning that DHS built its lists based on incorrect data, never checked how often they were wrong, and recklessly sent agents to people’s homes weeks before an election,” Protect Democracy attorney Beau Tremitiere said in a statement to CBS News. “Today’s ruling should remind us that American citizens have supreme power in our democracy, not the government, no matter what the administration says otherwise.” CBS News has reached out to DHS for comment. President Trump has prioritized combating voter fraud during his second term, although there has been little evidence to support his claims of widespread non-citizen voting. 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. The Justice Department reported earlier this week that it arrested several dozen green card holders in California on allegations that they illegally registered to vote in U.S. federal elections. Madeleine May contributed to this report. More from CBS News Go deeper with The Free Press in:
