UCLA group and Xavier Becerra file lawsuit against Trump administration for alleged Homeland Security threats to voters.
The UCLA Voting Rights Project, along with several other organizations, has initiated legal proceedings against the Trump administration, contending that the government has misused federal databases to improperly target naturalized citizens eligible to register to vote. This action is reported in court documents filed recently in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The plaintiffs argue that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are undermining the electoral process by employing what they describe as unlawful and inaccurate federal databases to substantiate claims of voter fraud. The complaint highlights that the administration’s actions infringe on the principles of free and fair elections.
This lawsuit comes in the wake of assertions from the White House, claiming that over 278,000 noncitizens are registered to vote across the United States, with 190,832 of those registrations occurring in California alone. However, the plaintiffs contend that federal officials have not provided adequate details regarding the methodology or evidence supporting these statistics.
In response to the allegations, a spokesperson for the DHS maintained that their approach is indeed fair and justified. The department has claimed that it has utilized publicly accessible state voter roll data to cross-reference against existing records of illegal aliens in their systems. According to officials, this process is a straightforward method of securing elections. Furthermore, the DHS indicated a strong commitment to prosecuting and deporting individuals who vote illegally, emphasizing its intent to preserve the integrity of U.S. elections.
The lawsuit points to contradictions within DHS communications. For instance, the agency previously declared that nearly 16,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in Nevada, only for an official to later clarify that this figure represented an upper limit and that each voter would need to be individually verified. Subsequently, the agency provided Nevada officials with a mere 185 identification numbers which it believed were associated with noncitizen voters.
This lawsuit, which was filed by the UCLA Voting Rights Project along with gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, and Pedro Trujillo—a naturalized citizen and registered voter in California—aims to protect the voting rights of naturalized citizens. Becerra, who is also a voting rights attorney and co-counsel in the case, emphasized the essential equality of naturalized citizens, asserting that they are deserving of the same voting rights as all other citizens.
Additionally, the lawsuit raises concerns that the administration may be comparing voter rolls with undisclosed government databases. This comparison risks generating false results that disproportionately impact naturalized voters, particularly since such systems may not reflect the transition of lawful permanent residents into U.S. citizens. Furthermore, several states could face a loss of federal funding if they do not align their voter rolls with systems that are criticized for misidentifying legitimate voters as noncitizens. Federal officials have warned election administrators that they could face prosecution if they continue to include noncitizens on their rolls.
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