Federal Judge Blocks DHS Noncitizen Voting Probes in Nine States Days Before Midterms

A federal judge in California has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to halt certain investigations into suspected illegal voting by noncitizens in nine states, finding the agency's tactics likely violate the Voting Rights Act, Fox News reported.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, who was nominated by President Joe Biden in 2022, issued the order Wednesday. It bars DHS from conducting election-related field interviews in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin when agents know, suspect or reasonably should suspect the person is a U.S. citizen, according to The National News Desk.

The order also bars certain operations in those states that are based entirely on records from DHS' voter-matching process when the target is known or reasonably suspected to be a citizen.

Why the Judge Halted the DHS Probes

The judge did not find that investigating noncitizen voting is itself unlawful, Fox News reported. Instead, she found that DHS' methods likely broke the law because the department relied on unreliable data and sent armed agents to people's homes for interviews, which could amount to intimidation.

She described the initial target list as "voluminous and unreliable," according to The National News Desk. The order says agents were expected to review at least 40 suspected cases, with no more than 12 minutes to rule out each person using commercial databases, and that DHS acknowledged similar names, incomplete records and outdated citizenship information could lead to errors.

The public's "interests in safe elections, free from interference or intimidation, far exceed (the government's) purported interest in combating unlawful voting by non-U.S. citizens," the judge wrote, according to Fox News.

The lawsuit was brought by the California Nurses Association, National Nurses United, the Voto Latino Foundation, the City and County of San Francisco and Santa Clara County. The unions argued the investigations could frighten members away from voter outreach.

Government lawyers conceded that some American citizens may have been looked at in connection with the investigations, but argued that in-person interviews were "expressly designed to resolve the discrepancies," Fox News reported.

DHS: 'Only Americans Should Elect American Leaders'

"DHS is laser focused on identifying, prosecuting, and removing aliens who vote and dilute the votes of U.S. citizens. ONLY Americans should elect American leaders," a department spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "We have no plans to question or investigate people we believe to be U.S. citizens."

The judge paused her order until 5 p.m. Friday to give the administration time to appeal. Unless changed, it remains in effect through Election Day, according to The National News Desk.

The ruling comes as the Justice Department presses its own election cases in California. Earlier this week, federal prosecutors charged 28 lawful permanent residents with election-related crimes, and the department has asked a court to stop California from counting mail-in ballots tied to about 20,000 people it identified as likely noncitizens until their citizenship can be checked.

Noncitizen voting in federal elections is a crime. Cracking down on it has been a priority of the Trump administration, though Fox News noted the effort has yet to produce evidence of widespread noncitizen voting.

Image: Tony Webster / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

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Sources: Fox News, "Biden-appointed judge blocks voter-fraud probes in battleground states just days before midterms" (Oct. 22, 2026): https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-appointed-judge-blocks-voter-fraud-probes-battleground-states-days-before-midterms ; The National News Desk via ABC News 4, "Judge curbs DHS hunt for noncitizen voters in 9 states, citing flawed data" (Oct. 22, 2026): https://abcnews4.com/news/nation-world/jfederal-judge-curbs-dhs-homeland-security-hunt-for-noncitizen-voters-in-9-states-citing-flawed-data-voting-rights-act-intimidation-election-related-field-interviews-illegal-voting ; U.S. Department of Justice, "Justice Department Charges 28 Foreign Nationals in California Election Crimes" (Oct. 19, 2026): https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-charges-28-foreign-nationals-california-election-crimes