A federal judge issued a ruling late Wednesday setting limits for ICE agents visiting homes of immigrants to investigate claims of voter fraud and make arrests.
With early voting already underway, ICE has taken the unprecedented step of deploying agents into communities to knock on doors and follow up on data the agency has collected that suggests people at those addresses either voted or registered to vote even though they were ineligible to do so as non-U.S. citizens.
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The Trump administration continues to share pictures and videos online of ICE armed agents in the field arresting noncitizens as part of its “unlawful voting initiative.”
But U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín said ICE is relying on data that is unreliable, some of it coming from “unknown artificial intelligence tools.” She pointed to the U.S. government’s acknowledgement that the target list could be tainted by similar names, incomplete records or clerical errors.
The ruling says ICE cannot target immigrants using a batch of data likely to have errors or question people when there is a reasonable chance they might be eligible to vote. The order applies to nine states where ICE has been focusing voting fraud enforcement efforts: California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin
ICE’s initiative also likely amounts to voter intimidation in violation of the Voting Rights Act, the judge said, siding with groups who filed the lawsuit saying legal voters were too fearful to cast a ballot.
“I think that DHS's actions are absolutely having an impact on the comfort level that people have voting, canvassing or otherwise participating in the political process,” said Jessica Marsden, counsel at Protect Democracy. “And the way the administration is using their social media channels to promote these arrests is what adds to the intimidating character here.”
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In a statement to Scripps News, DHS said it is not questioning or investigating people it believes to be U.S. citizens.
“DHS is laser focused on identifying, prosecuting, and removing aliens who vote and dilute the votes of U.S. citizens. ONLY Americans should elect American leaders,” the statement said.
The judge’s restrictions for ICE field operations in the nine states are set to take effect Friday evening and last through the end of Election Day.
