A federal judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to stop certain investigative actions in its hunt for noncitizen voters, writing that the department’s efforts rely on faulty data that includes US citizens legally allowed to vote.

Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín wrote in the order that DHS’s data alleging hundreds of thousands of possible illegal voters “is widely known to inadvertently include U.S. citizens” and “leaves citizens afraid that their name will be wrongly included in the hundreds of thousands identified for investigation.”

The judge’s order specifically limits actions DHS takes in the field to investigate noncitizen voting, such as interviews, and says that DHS cannot take those actions if it believes the person they’re targeting could be a US citizen.

  • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    4 hours ago

    There are two parts to this objective:

    1. Disenfranchise voters who they are at “the enemy” from being able to vote.
    2. Lay the ground work for the inevitable cries of “rigged election!!1!” when they get their asses handed to them.

    This judge’s decision helps to mitigate the first part. But there’s nothing he can do about the second part. For that everyone needs to just stand firm, point out the facts, and not let that bullshit stand.