From its inception, voting has been a controversial topic in the US, but one group is confident the government is guilty of foul play. The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights is pursuing a lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming that DHS and the Department of Justice are intentionally using inaccurate federal databases. Allegedly, it’s a means to target voters, even if they are naturalized citizens. And officials like California Secretary of State Shirley Weber are supporting the claims.
Weber says she has “serious doubts about the reliability” of a DHS report that claims almost 200,000 noncitizens wrongfully have voting privileges, per AP News. Another spokesperson, Pedro Trujillo, is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit and is speaking out against the Trump administration allegedly engaging in voter intimidation.
“Which votes count and which get cut from the voter roles?,” Trujillo asked, as reported by ABC7. “I say no to ‘second-class citizens.’ I say no second-class votes. Every citizen deserves an equal voice in our democracy.” As someone who was undocumented for 20 years but was granted citizenship after qualifying for DACA, Trujillo says he’s earned the right to vote in US elections.
As to how the DHS responded to these allegations of targeting specific voters, a representative said the department uses “publicly available data” to cross-reference voter rolls with alleged illegal aliens tracked in their systems. “It’s not rocket science; it’s an easy step to secure our elections,” the spokesperson said.
Regardless of which side is right, this situation begs the broader and more important question: Could the government’s hunt for noncitizen voters accidentally target American citizens? Specifically, we are talking about citizens who weren’t born in the US, but people who’ve earned their right to vote after being naturalized. The lawsuit alleges these voters would be targeted and restricted from voting because of improper use of old database information.
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On one side, some voters could be restricted from voting, but on the other hand, the polls wouldn’t be swayed by those who allegedly don’t have the right. Either way, neither side will be going down without a fight, as both DHS and those in support of this lawsuit appear determined to strongly believe the other is wrong.
