US judge blocks federal operations seeking to identify non-citizen voters

A federal judge has ordered the US Department of Homeland Security to halt operations aimed at identifying non-citizen voters in nine states ahead of the November midterm elections.

US District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin ruled that the investigations likely breach a provision of the Voting Rights Act that prohibits voter intimidation, and said the department may have relied on flawed data.

The judge wrote that the operations created "an objectively reasonable fear of law enforcement entanglements that intimidates citizens from urging or aiding others in exercising their right to vote".

The order covers federal efforts in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. The department has been publicising a push to uncover voter fraud, with some local offices posting photographs of agents knocking on suspects' doors.

The operations come as President Donald Trump's administration seeks to highlight instances of voter fraud ahead of the November 3 midterm vote. Fraud in US elections remains exceedingly rare, and there is no evidence that non-citizens have ever influenced the outcome of an American election at any level.

In a statement after Thursday's ruling, the DHS said its investigations were aimed at "removing aliens who vote and dilute the votes of US citizens", adding: "We have no plans to question or investigate people we believe to be US citizens."

The lawsuit was brought by nurses' unions, the Voto Latino Foundation and the counties of San Francisco and Santa Clara, who said some US citizens were wrongly identified and questioned. A lawyer for the groups said the department had "built its lists on bad data" and "recklessly sent agents to people's homes weeks before an election".