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DHS Pre-Election 'Surge' of Voter-Fraud Field Operations in Nine States (California Nurses Association v. Mullin)

Documented · 08/31/2026

United States

This involves a preliminary court ruling in pending litigation; no court has entered a final judgment. Beginning September 1, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) carried out a pre-election "surge" of field interviews and investigations of suspected unlawful voting, under an internal HSI document dated August 31. Federal courts describe the operation as prioritizing nine states: California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. Noncitizen voting is a federal crime, and the courts did not find that investigating it is unlawful.

On October 21, a federal district judge found two nurses' unions likely to succeed on a claim that the operation intimidated people urging or aiding others to vote, in violation of Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act. The order bars election-related field operations and interviews in the nine states that involve or are likely to involve people whom agents know, suspect or should reasonably suspect are U.S. citizens, until polls close on November 3. The court declined to rule for the other plaintiffs and did not reach the remaining claims.

Procedural status (as of October 31, 2026): On October 30 a unanimous Ninth Circuit panel, in a published order, upheld the unions' standing and denied the government's request for a stay pending appeal, concluding that it had not shown irreparable harm. The panel left the lawfulness of the operation's tactics to the merits stage.

Documented claims

Editorial classification 10/31/2026

ExtremismLedger includes this matter under Editorial Policy §0 criterion 6 (election interference or subversion), whose examples include 'organized voter intimidation.' This is an Editorial Board interpretation of criterion 6, approved by the project owner as Editorial Board on October 31, 2026; it is not a final judicial finding of illegality. The application requires all three of the following: an organized operation carried out under documented official instructions and publicized during an election period; a judicial finding that the challenged conduct likely constitutes unlawful intimidation of voters or people assisting them; and documented withdrawal from election-related activities associated with the challenged conduct. Lawful voter-fraud investigations and immigration enforcement do not qualify merely because they are organized or publicized. The documented conduct is a coordinated federal field operation begun in the weeks before a federal election under an internal HSI document, using data matching that the government acknowledges may sweep in U.S. citizens, and publicized by the department. A federal district court found the challenged conduct likely to violate Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act by intimidating people assisting voters; union members declared that they withdrew from election-related activities; and a published Ninth Circuit order denied a stay of the injunction. The Ledger's judgment is that this conduct falls within the criterion's phrase 'reasonably capable of' interfering with the conduct of an election, a judgment that does not depend on proof of intent. Weighing against that judgment: noncitizen voting is a federal crime and investigating it is a legitimate federal purpose, and the district court said such investigations are not themselves unlawful; the judicial findings are preliminary and concern one claim about voter assistance; the district court did not reach the claim of direct voter intimidation; the Ninth Circuit's stay decision is not a final merits ruling; DHS records report arrests, indictments and convictions; and the government describes safeguards against misidentifying citizens. No criminal intent or offense is established by these findings, and no change to any ballot count is established. The Ledger does not apply criterion 7 or criterion 8.

Documented fact 10/30/2026

In a sworn declaration, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official stated that a record match is not, by itself, a final determination that a person voted unlawfully, and that 'Similar names, incomplete records, outdated citizenship information, clerical errors, and other circumstances may require further manual review of all available data.' The official described safeguards, including manual review before referral to HSI, and called the chance of erroneously identifying U.S. citizens a 'low possibility.' The Ninth Circuit wrote that USCIS acknowledges that U.S. citizens may be present on the target list, and that officers generally have up to 12 minutes to determine whether a subject is a U.S. citizen.

Allegation 10/30/2026

The Ninth Circuit's order, drawing on the district court's order and a whistleblower disclosure to Congress, describes the program as follows. These descriptions were made at a preliminary stage and are not final findings. DHS built target lists from data including 'independent sources' and unverified commercial databases; USCIS was instructed to treat the list as presumptively valid and to complete at least 40 profile reviews a day; HSI then dispatched personnel to conduct field interviews. The order states that DHS has targeted organizations engaged in voter engagement, giving a figure of at least 165 (the district court's order gives at least 148). The order also describes a portal through which agents' photos and videos could be used for media and reporting, and social media content that it says often shows armed and masked agents making arrests or confronting individuals.

Documented fact 10/30/2026

On October 30, 2026, in a published per curiam order in No. 26-7139, the Ninth Circuit (Judges Thomas, Wardlaw and Johnstone) denied the government's motion for a stay pending appeal. It held that the unions have associational standing, writing that the record shows the government's conduct 'chills citizens' election-related activities'; declarants who are members described having stopped attending election-related events, and one said he would no longer serve as a poll watcher. It held that the government had not shown irreparable harm, noting the 'questionable timing' of the surge and that the initiative can resume on November 4, 2026, and it found the injunction not impermissibly vague. The panel wrote that whether the tactics are lawful will 'be resolved at the merits stage of this case.' The order does not decide the merits of the Voting Rights Act claim.

Documented fact 10/21/2026

On October 21, 2026, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted a preliminary injunction on a single claim: that the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United were likely to succeed in showing intimidation affecting voter assistance and mobilization under Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act. The order bars 'elections-related field operations and field interviews' in the nine states 'that involve or are likely to involve persons whom the Enjoined Parties know, suspect, or should reasonably know or suspect are U.S. citizens,' until polls close on November 3, 2026. The court said that publicized field operations built on flawed data created an 'objectively reasonable fear of law enforcement entanglements' among people aiding voters. It treated Section 11(b) as applying regardless of specific intent and did not find that officials intended to intimidate anyone. The local-government plaintiffs and Voto Latino Foundation were held not to have shown standing, and the Administrative Procedure Act claims were not reached. The order states: 'Plaintiffs do not claim, nor does the Court find, that it is unlawful for federal officials to undertake investigations into unlawful voting in federal elections.' This is a preliminary ruling, not a final judgment.

Documented fact 08/31/2026

An internal Homeland Security Investigations document titled 'HSI Election Integrity Investigations,' dated August 31, 2026 and filed by the government in redacted form, states: 'Beginning September 1, 2026, HSI will launch a coordinated Criminal Voter Fraud surge initiative to pursue investigative leads, conduct field interviews, and support timely prosecutorial review.' It asks each special agent in charge's office with leads in an assigned state to take investigative action each day on a schedule. The visible schedule lists Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri and Georgia on September 1, California on September 7 and 14, and Pennsylvania on September 21; three further lines are redacted. The Ninth Circuit describes the guidance as prioritizing nine states. The same document reports fiscal-year 2026 totals of 84 administrative arrests, 36 criminal arrests, 24 indictments and 7 convictions in voter-fraud enforcement.