Judge halts DHS door-to-door noncitizen voting checks in nine states through Election Day

A federal judge in California has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to stop election-related field interviews of likely U.S. citizens in nine states until polls close on Nov. 3.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin ruled late Wednesday in a lawsuit brought by nurses' unions, voting groups and local governments, according to The Associated Press. She delayed the order until 5 p.m. Friday to give the administration time to appeal, CBS News reported.

The states covered

California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.

What the judge found

The case targets a DHS effort the AP said is known as the Unlawful Voter Initiative, aimed at finding noncitizens registered to vote.

• Bad data. The judge cited a high likelihood of error in how DHS built its target lists, noting there is no federal database of residents' citizenship, the AP reported.
• Intimidation. She found the home visits likely violate the Voting Rights Act's ban on intimidating people who help others vote or register, CBS News reported.
• Limits. Fox News reported that the judge did not find investigating noncitizen voting unlawful in itself, only the methods DHS used.

The government's side

DHS said it is focused on removing noncitizens who vote and has no plans to question people it believes are citizens, according to the AP and Fox News. Government lawyers argued the agency used the best data available.

Noncitizen voting in federal elections is a crime. It is rare, though cases have been documented, Fox News noted.

None of the reports reviewed said whether the administration had filed an appeal.