California DHS Voter Intimidation Challenge

A pro-voting lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s campaign to pressure states to screen voter rolls in search of alleged noncitizens

Background

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and a naturalized U.S. citizen filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Attorney General Todd Blanche.

The lawsuit challenges federal efforts to pressure California and other states to compare voter rolls against federal databases in search of alleged noncitizen voters. Plaintiffs argue that the campaign is based on unsupported claims, risks wrongly targeting naturalized citizens and unlawfully interferes with states’ authority to administer elections.

They ask the court to block the administration from imposing the list-matching effort on California and to order Mullin to rescind a letter sent to the state.

Why It Matters

This case challenges a federal campaign that plaintiffs say could chill voting and registration among naturalized citizens.

The complaint alleges that database matching efforts often produce false positives because records can be outdated or incomplete, especially for people who became U.S. citizens after earlier interactions with government agencies.

Plaintiffs warn that these efforts could lead to wrongful voter removals, extra scrutiny and fear among eligible voters ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Latest Updates

• Nov. 3, 2026: The court denied the DOJ’s motion to strike.
• Nov. 2, 2026: The court granted the plaintiff’s temporary restraining order in part.
• Nov. 1, 2026: DOJ filed its response to plaintiffs’ supplemental brief in support of its standing arguments. DOJ filed a motion to strike.
• Oct. 31, 2026: Plaintiffs filed a supplemental brief in support of its standing and a declaration of two experts who reviewed the voter list.
• Oct. 30, 2026: The court held a hearing on the plaintiffs motion for a temporary restraining order. The court ordered the DOJ to send the plaintiffs the list of 20,000 voters by 5pm. DOJ asked the court to pause the order pending an appeal, but after a telephone conference DOJ agreed to hand over the voter list to plaintiffs under set conditions.
• Oct. 28, 2026: Plaintiffs filed their reply in favor of a temporary restraining order.
• Oct. 26, 2026: Defendants filed their opposition to a temporary restraining order.
• Oct. 22, 2026: Plaintiffs filed their superseding motion for a temporary restraining order.
• Oct. 15, 2026: Plaintiffs filed a motion for a temporary restraining order.
• Sept. 2, 2026: Plaintiffs filed their complaint.