Civil rights groups sue DHS, saying it unlawfully targets naturalized citizens' votes

Two civil rights groups sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday. They say the agency is unlawfully scrutinizing naturalized U.S. citizens and putting them at risk of losing their vote, less than a week before Election Day ¹.

The suit was filed in California by OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates and Common Cause. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is representing them ¹. DHS did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday ¹.

What the lawsuit alleges

The suit accuses DHS and its sub-agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), of running what it calls an "Unlawful Voter Initiative." It describes a policy of targeting thousands of naturalized and derivative citizens for voter eligibility investigations and tracking ¹.

The suit says the agencies "created a rushed, flawed process that brands naturalized and derivative citizens as potential criminals in the federal government’s eyes and then tries to disenfranchise them" ¹. These are allegations, not findings by a court. The claims are rooted in a September whistleblower report from U.S. Senate Democrats, which said DHS is investigating naturalized citizens without their knowledge ¹.

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The groups want a judge to bar DHS from targeting naturalized citizens. They also want to stop DHS from telling election officials not to count ballots because a voter appears on a DHS list of alleged noncitizen voters ¹.

The administration's response

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a news release Wednesday touting voter fraud arrests, "American elections are for Americans only" ¹. Dozens of noncitizens have been arrested, and DHS has publicized their names and photos ¹. Noncitizen voting is a misdemeanor, though offenders can also face deportation ¹.

DHS also asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to pause a ruling by Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín. Last week she blocked election-related field operations that could sweep up citizens in nine states: California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. Her order lasts until polls close ¹. The administration asked the appeals court to rule by Thursday ¹.

Separately, the Justice Department has sued California to keep officials from counting the ballots of 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters. It has also demanded that Washington state not count 400 ¹. California election officials and voting rights advocates have doubted the list's accuracy. The federal judge there signaled he will likely appoint a special master to examine it but leans against ordering ballots set aside ¹.

Why it matters

Roughly 10% of eligible voters this year are naturalized citizens, up from about 6.2% in 2000, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census data. In California the share is nearly 22% ¹.

A September lawsuit by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights made a similar warning. It said matching DHS records against voter rolls can produce false positives, especially for people who became citizens after earlier contact with federal agencies ². DHS has said its matching effort is meant to protect elections ².

Common Cause's Omar Nourledin said members across the country fear being caught up in the push. He called that fear well-founded given what he described as "junk data" in the Justice Department's lists ¹. The 9th Circuit's decision is the next thing to watch, and it could come as soon as Thursday ¹.

The Record

1. Sep 4, 2026A report on the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights lawsuit says matching DHS records to voter rolls could wrongly flag naturalized citizens ².
2. Oct 27, 2026DHS filed an emergency motion asking the 9th Circuit to pause the injunction on its election field operations in nine states ¹.
3. Oct 28, 2026OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates and Common Cause sued DHS in California over alleged targeting of naturalized citizens ¹.
4. Oct 29, 2026The administration asked the 9th Circuit to rule by this date ¹.

Sources

1. Stateline, “DHS targeting naturalized Americans in voter investigations, civil rights groups say” (2026-10-29). stateline.org/2026/10/29/repub/dhs-targeting-naturalized-ame
2. TheGrio, “Immigrant rights group sues Trump administration over voter citizenship review” (2026-09-04). thegrio.com/2026/09/04/naturalized-voter-lawsuit-trump-datab

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