Judge blocks Trump officials from sending 'noncitizen' voter lists to states

On Monday, the night before the midterm election, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the Trump administration to stop sending state and local election officials lists of registered voters it says may not be citizens ¹². U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a preliminary injunction, a temporary order that stays in place while the lawsuit goes forward ¹³.

The order covers the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It also bars officials from asking states to set those voters' ballots aside, or to hold off counting them until citizenship is proven ². Chutkan said the administration's data may not be reliable, which could disenfranchise lawfully registered voters ².

What the judge ordered

The ban covers sharing the lists with anyone who registers voters, processes ballots or certifies results ³. The government had to file a report within 24 hours confirming it had complied and naming a senior official responsible for keeping it in compliance ³. Chutkan also put on hold what the plaintiffs call the administration's "voter data transmission policy" ¹.

The order has limits. Federal agencies can still answer one-at-a-time citizenship checks through SAVE, the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, and can still prosecute actual violations of federal law ³. The ruling does not settle the lawsuit itself ³.

The League of Women Voters, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed the suit on October 15 ³. Lawyers from Democracy Forward and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) represent them ⁵. The suit says the administration built a national voter database covering at least 47 states ¹.

A 1974 privacy law at the center

The groups argued that the program breaks the Privacy Act of 1974, a law that limits how the federal government can share sensitive personal records ². In a 30-page opinion, Chutkan found that sending the lists to states in bulk likely violates that law ⁴. She also found the groups were likely to win their argument that no law authorizes the program at all ¹.

This constitutes a violation of the Privacy Act's procedural requirements.

Chutkan pointed to the government's failure to publish public notices the Privacy Act requires for its voter databases ⁴. She also rejected the government's argument that the closeness of the election meant courts should stay out. She said that principle actually favored her stepping in ¹.

Lists that flagged citizens

The case record shows why election officials doubted the lists. In Los Angeles County, the DOJ handed over a drive listing more than 20,000 people it called likely noncitizens. Only 7,035 of them had addresses in the county ¹. DHS also claimed that 15,903 noncitizens were registered in Nevada. A state review found that the people it flagged were citizens ¹.

According to CREW, government lawyers admitted under questioning that the lists had wrongly labeled U.S. citizens as noncitizens ⁵. That matters because a wrong label can mean a citizen's ballot gets set aside or questioned. That includes naturalized Americans who have voted legally for decades.

Washington state shows how this played out. On October 26, federal prosecutors said agents had found 405 noncitizens who registered and voted there. They asked the state to sequester, or set aside, those ballots ⁷. Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd stood by the count.

With the highest level of confidence I have, these are people that are registered to vote, have voted, and are not citizens

Floyd said the names came from questioning immigration detainees and people crossing the border, checked against immigration databases and public voter records ⁷. Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs answered in a letter on October 28. He said the list was a PDF with no voter ID numbers or addresses, contained duplicates, and gave the wrong date for the election ⁶. His office said one record dated from 1994 ⁷.

This list includes United States citizens and is not reliable.

The government's side

In a Saturday court filing, the DOJ said its letters to California and Washington were part of an effort to enforce a federal law that bans noncitizens from voting. It said the letters were not a separate policy a federal court could review ². Its lawyers also argued that the groups suing had no standing, meaning no legal right to sue, and that only individuals, not organizations, can sue under the Privacy Act ⁴.

Chutkan disagreed on standing. She found that the policy hurt the League's ability to register voters before the midterms ⁴. The DOJ and DHS did not respond to requests for comment on the ruling, according to a report on the plaintiffs' announcement ⁸.

The court made clear that the Trump administration is not above the law.

One of several election-eve losses

The ruling came during a busy Monday in court. The Supreme Court turned down the DOJ's emergency request to force California to set aside ballots from about 20,000 people the government calls noncitizens ⁹. Chief Judge James Boasberg separately barred the government from demanding that California officials separate ballots based on the lists ⁹.

In a separate case brought by the NAACP, Judge Reggie Walton declined to block the DOJ's poll-monitoring program. He did order that the monitors not be law enforcement officers, not carry weapons and not make arrests ⁹.

The pattern is clear. With days to go before the vote, the administration pushed states to treat voters on its lists as suspects. Several courts have now said that federal agencies must follow the law, too.

The Record

1. Oct 15, 2026The League of Women Voters and other voting rights and privacy groups file suit over the federal voter-list program ³.
2. Oct 26, 2026Federal prosecutors say 405 noncitizens registered and voted in Washington state and ask the state to set their ballots aside ⁷.
3. Oct 28, 2026Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs replies that the DOJ list includes U.S. citizens and is not reliable ⁶.
4. Nov 2, 2026The Supreme Court denies the DOJ's emergency request to force California to set aside about 20,000 ballots ⁹.
5. Nov 2, 2026Judge Tanya Chutkan bars the DOJ and DHS from sending 'noncitizen' voter lists to election officials ¹³.

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<h2>Judge blocks Trump officials from sending &#39;noncitizen&#39; voter lists to states</h2> <p><em>By The GOP Files National Desk. This article first appeared on <a href="https://thegopfiles.com/story/judge-blocks-trump-officials-from-sending-noncitizen-voter-lists-to-states">The GOP Files</a> on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.</em></p> <p>On Monday, the night before the midterm election, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the Trump administration to stop sending state and local election officials lists of registered voters it says may not be citizens . U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a preliminary injunction, a temporary order that stays in place while the lawsuit goes forward .</p> <p>The order covers the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It also bars officials from asking states to set those voters&#39; ballots aside, or to hold off counting them until citizenship is proven . Chutkan said the administration&#39;s data may not be reliable, which could disenfranchise lawfully registered voters .</p> <h2>What the judge ordered</h2> <p>The ban covers sharing the lists with anyone who registers voters, processes ballots or certifies results . The government had to file a report within 24 hours confirming it had complied and naming a senior official responsible for keeping it in compliance . Chutkan also put on hold what the plaintiffs call the administration&#39;s &quot;voter data transmission policy&quot; .</p> <p>The order has limits. Federal agencies can still answer one-at-a-time citizenship checks through SAVE, the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, and can still prosecute actual violations of federal law . The ruling does not settle the lawsuit itself .</p> <p>The League of Women Voters, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed the suit on October 15 . Lawyers from Democracy Forward and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) represent them . The suit says the administration built a national voter database covering at least 47 states .</p> <h2>A 1974 privacy law at the center</h2> <p>The groups argued that the program breaks the Privacy Act of 1974, a law that limits how the federal government can share sensitive personal records . In a 30-page opinion, Chutkan found that sending the lists to states in bulk likely violates that law . She also found the groups were likely to win their argument that no law authorizes the program at all .</p> <blockquote><p>This constitutes a violation of the Privacy Act&#39;s procedural requirements.</p><p>&mdash; Tanya Chutkan, U.S. district judge, District of Columbia</p></blockquote> <p>Chutkan pointed to the government&#39;s failure to publish public notices the Privacy Act requires for its voter databases . She also rejected the government&#39;s argument that the closeness of the election meant courts should stay out. She said that principle actually favored her stepping in .</p> <h2>Lists that flagged citizens</h2> <p>The case record shows why election officials doubted the lists. In Los Angeles County, the DOJ handed over a drive listing more than 20,000 people it called likely noncitizens. Only 7,035 of them had addresses in the county . DHS also claimed that 15,903 noncitizens were registered in Nevada. A state review found that the people it flagged were citizens .</p> <p>According to CREW, government lawyers admitted under questioning that the lists had wrongly labeled U.S. citizens as noncitizens . That matters because a wrong label can mean a citizen&#39;s ballot gets set aside or questioned. That includes naturalized Americans who have voted legally for decades.</p> <p>Washington state shows how this played out. On October 26, federal prosecutors said agents had found 405 noncitizens who registered and voted there. They asked the state to sequester, or set aside, those ballots . Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd stood by the count.</p> <blockquote><p>With the highest level of confidence I have, these are people that are registered to vote, have voted, and are not citizens</p><p>&mdash; Neil Floyd, acting U.S. attorney, Western District of Washington</p></blockquote> <p>Floyd said the names came from questioning immigration detainees and people crossing the border, checked against immigration databases and public voter records . Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs answered in a letter on October 28. He said the list was a PDF with no voter ID numbers or addresses, contained duplicates, and gave the wrong date for the election . His office said one record dated from 1994 .</p> <blockquote><p>This list includes United States citizens and is not reliable.</p><p>&mdash; Steve Hobbs, Washington secretary of state, D-Wash.</p></blockquote> <h2>The government&#39;s side</h2> <p>In a Saturday court filing, the DOJ said its letters to California and Washington were part of an effort to enforce a federal law that bans noncitizens from voting. It said the letters were not a separate policy a federal court could review . Its lawyers also argued that the groups suing had no standing, meaning no legal right to sue, and that only individuals, not organizations, can sue under the Privacy Act .</p> <p>Chutkan disagreed on standing. She found that the policy hurt the League&#39;s ability to register voters before the midterms . The DOJ and DHS did not respond to requests for comment on the ruling, according to a report on the plaintiffs&#39; announcement .</p> <blockquote><p>The court made clear that the Trump administration is not above the law.</p><p>&mdash; Celina Stewart, CEO, League of Women Voters</p></blockquote> <h2>One of several election-eve losses</h2> <p>The ruling came during a busy Monday in court. The Supreme Court turned down the DOJ&#39;s emergency request to force California to set aside ballots from about 20,000 people the government calls noncitizens . Chief Judge James Boasberg separately barred the government from demanding that California officials separate ballots based on the lists .</p> <p>In a separate case brought by the NAACP, Judge Reggie Walton declined to block the DOJ&#39;s poll-monitoring program. He did order that the monitors not be law enforcement officers, not carry weapons and not make arrests .</p> <p>The pattern is clear. With days to go before the vote, the administration pushed states to treat voters on its lists as suspects. Several courts have now said that federal agencies must follow the law, too.</p> <p><em>Read the original, with every source linked, at <a href="https://thegopfiles.com/story/judge-blocks-trump-officials-from-sending-noncitizen-voter-lists-to-states">thegopfiles.com</a>. Republished under The GOP Files' <a href="https://thegopfiles.com/republish">free republishing terms</a>.</em></p> <img src="https://thegopfiles.com/api/rp/judge-blocks-trump-officials-from-sending-noncitizen-voter-lists-to-states.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" style="border:0;width:1px;height:1px">

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Sources

1. Raw Story, “Judge blocks Trump voter-list scheme and puts his arch on short leash on election eve” (2026-11-02). rawstory.com/trump-chutkan-2678195317/
2. Reuters (via WKZO), “Judge blocks Trump administration from pressuring states over noncitizen voting” (2026-11-02). wkzo.com/2026/11/02/judge-blocks-trump-administration-from-p
3. Newsweek, “Trump's DOJ Blocked From Sending 'Noncitizen' Voter Lists” (2026-11-02). newsweek.com/trump-block-noncitizen-voter-lists-12653739
4. The Epoch Times, “Judge Orders Federal Officials to Stop Sending Lists of Noncitizen Voters to States” (2026-11-03). theepochtimes.com/us/judge-orders-federal-officials-to-stop-
5. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, “Judge blocks Trump administration scheme to disenfranchise voters” (2026-11-03). citizensforethics.org/news/press-releases/judge-blocks-trump
6. KOMO News, “Washington secretary of state says DOJ's claims of noncitizens voting 'deeply flawed'” (2026-10-28). komonews.com/news/local/washington-secretary-of-state-says-d
7. WJLA / KOMO News, “Department of Justice claims it found 400 non-citizens on Washington voter rolls” (2026-10-26). wjla.com/news/nation-world/department-of-justice-washington-
8. NJ Today, “Judge orders halt to federal 'likely noncitizen' voter lists, groups say” (2026-11-03). njtoday.news/2026/11/03/judge-orders-halt-to-federal-likely-
9. Raw Story, “Observers go wild after 'flurry of late night' rulings hammer Trump admin's election plots” (2026-11-02). rawstory.com/trump-election-2678195806/

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