Biden Judge Halts DHS Noncitizen Voter Probes in Nine States

A Biden-appointed federal judge in California has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to stop door-to-door investigations of suspected noncitizen voters in nine states until the polls close on Election Day, a ruling set to take effect at 5 p.m. Pacific time on Friday unless the Trump administration wins a stay on appeal.

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the Northern District of California granted a preliminary injunction on Oct. 21 in a lawsuit brought by the California Nurses Association, National Nurses United, the City and County of San Francisco, Santa Clara County and the Voto Latino Foundation, according to the court’s 19-page order. The order covers California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.

Judge blocks most DHS field operations focused on voter fraudhttps://t.co/B6rOeUBoiT

— The Hill (@thehill) October 22, 2026

What the order blocks

According to the order, DHS agents are barred from election-related field operations and interviews in those states that involve people agents “know, suspect, or should reasonably know or suspect are U.S. citizens.” The order also bars field operations in those states based “wholly” on records generated by the government’s voter eligibility matching process, the court document states.

The injunction runs until 8 p.m. on Nov. 3, or until polling places close, according to the order. The judge stayed her own ruling until Friday evening, which the Sacramento Bee reported was meant to give the government time to appeal. As of Thursday morning, a notice of appeal had not been filed, the Bee reported.

The judge’s reasoning

“At issue here is the reliance on admittedly flawed and incomplete data to create a list of individuals for (Homeland Security Investigations) to interview in the months leading up to an election,” Martínez-Olguín wrote, as quoted by the Sacramento Bee. NPR reported that the judge found the effort likely violated the Voting Rights Act’s ban on voter intimidation.

The order describes an Aug. 31 DHS document called the “Surge Initiative Guidance,” which directed HSI agents to prioritize field investigations questioning people about their voter eligibility in the nine states, according to the court filing. NPR reported that the judge also pointed to HSI social media posts, including one showing agents handcuffing a California man accused of unlawfully registering to vote.

The Sacramento Bee reported that the judge said pausing interrogations based on the lists does not stop the government from conducting legitimate voter fraud investigations.

The administration’s side

In a declaration filed in the case, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official Nicolas Bartell said his team manually reviews records before referring them to HSI, according to NPR. Bartell acknowledged a “low possibility” that citizens could be wrongly flagged, but wrote that safeguards reduce that risk and that any remaining risk was “outweighed by the need to support the agency’s law-enforcement and election-integrity mission,” NPR reported.

The Washington Post reported that the judge found error-prone government lists could sweep U.S. citizens into the effort. The Hill reported that the ruling blocks most DHS field operations focused on voter fraud.

Why it matters

The ruling lands less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, as the Trump administration presses to remove noncitizens from voter rolls. Martínez-Olguín was nominated by President Joe Biden, NPR reported. Whether the administration seeks an emergency stay from the Ninth Circuit before the Friday evening deadline is the next thing to watch.

Sources

• Order Granting Preliminary Injunction, California Nurses Association v. Mullin (N.D. Cal.)
• NPR
• Sacramento Bee
• The Washington Post
• The Hill on X

Reporting by Daily Beltway.