DOJ indicts non-citizens in Minnesota for alleged voter fraud
The Department of Justice is targeting alleged instances of voter fraud involving non-citizens in Minnesota. Recently, Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter discussed the issue on ‘Saturday in America,’ revealing that in the last month alone, federal prosecutors have charged 50 individuals with voting-related crimes. Additionally, the DOJ is in the process of appealing a ruling from a federal judge in Florida, which deemed a federal law prohibiting non-citizen voting unconstitutional.
In a related issue, the Trump administration faces a lawsuit concerning its attempts to gather and analyze sensitive voter data from across the United States. This complaint was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. It alleges that the Department of Homeland Security has obtained voter files from at least 47 states and has managed this information in violation of federal law.
The lawsuit claims that the DHS’s secret investigation into voter data, including blending it with commercial datasets, disregards federal protections and infringes on the privacy rights of millions of Americans. The case was initiated by organizations like the League of Women Voters and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, marking yet another legal challenge against President Trump’s initiatives aimed at reducing non-citizen voting.
The president has frequently stated that non-citizen voting significantly compromises election integrity, yet studies and legal cases show such occurrences to be quite rare. His administration has continuously sought a more substantial federal incorporation in matters of voter eligibility and election management—areas that, traditionally, fall under the jurisdiction of individual states as outlined in the Constitution and federal laws.
Meanwhile, there have been multiple instances where federal courts have denied the administration’s requests to compel states to provide voter information. This latest lawsuit raises concerns that the administration has improperly acquired and handled voter records from at least 47 states, even as officials in about 30 states have previously resisted federal demands for voter data.
The plaintiffs are urging the court to declare the data collection illegal, stop the DHS’s policy, and require the agency to delete and cease using the information it already collected. With Election Day approaching in less than three weeks, the administration continues to accuse states of not doing enough to remove noncitizens from voter rolls.
In a further development, the administration has filed a suit against California election officials, claiming they failed to promptly evaluate names identified by the federal government as likely non-citizens. The Justice Department is requesting a judge’s order to prevent counting mail-in ballots from these individuals unless their eligibility is verified.
Contrarily, the California Secretary of State’s office noted that it was given only 48 hours to review around 20,000 names, without receiving the direct evidence or methodology from the federal government supporting its assertions. However, the Justice Department insists that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services conducted a thorough review and confidently identified approximately 20,000 individuals likely to be noncitizens on California’s voter rolls.
DHS has not yet responded to requests for comment on the situation.
