U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin in Oakland, who was appointed by Joe Biden, claims the government's effort is relying on bad data and that it's leading to intimidation of groups performing voter assistance efforts. She said it should be halted until polls close on Election Day, Nov. 3.
She put her ruling, which was made Wednesday, on hold until Friday to give the administration a chance to appeal.
The ruling applies to investigations in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.
In response to the ruling, the Department of Homeland Security issued an email statement Thursday saying it's focused on “removing aliens who vote and dilute the votes of U.S. citizens,” while adding, “We have no plans to question or investigate people we believe to be U.S. citizens.”
According to legal filings in the case, investigators were told to target naturalized citizens to see whether they had voted before they became U.S. citizens. The lists of voters to check came from sources that included state and local governments and publicly available information.
