Immigration officers don’t normally focus on elections, but lately they’ve been showing up at houses, armed and in uniform, to see if people are illegally registered to vote.
asserted
people → focus → uniform
They’ve been doing this in multiple states, including California, where the feds arrested 28 green card holders as part of “Operation Protect the Vote.”
asserted
feds → do → Vote
The administration is also trying to stop officials in California and Los Angeles County from counting 20,000 mail-in ballots that the administration claims could be coming from noncitizens.
uncertain
administration → try → noncitizens
All of this is unprecedented, and it’s not happening without a fight.
asserted
it → happen → fight
Advocacy groups say the administration is using unreliable data, and that it’s so-called voter protection operation is just a ploy to scare people, including citizens who are lawfully registered.
asserted
who → say → citizens
“It’s a textbook case of voter intimidation,” says Beau Tremitiere, an attorney at the Protect Democracy Project who sued the administration along with co-counsel at the National Immigration Law Center and San Francisco and Santa Clara counties.
asserted
who → ’ → Center
(It’s one of multiple similar lawsuits nationally.)
asserted
It → ’ → lawsuits
Last week, a federal court in that case blocked Homeland Security from its door-knocking until after Election Day, arguing that it likely violated the Voting Rights Act.
asserted
it → block → Act
But could ICE still show up at the polls?
uncertain
ICE → show → polls
I turned to elections expert David Becker, a former Justice Department attorney who now leads the “fiercely nonpartisan” Center for Election Innovation and Research, and who’s been following the news closely.
asserted
who → turn → news
“For the first time in American history,” he told me, the feds have become “an adversary to state and local election officials, rather than a partner and a collaborator.”
asserted
feds → tell → officials
So far, they’re failing miserably.
asserted
they → fail → ?
The conversation was edited for length and clarity.
asserted
conversation → edit → length
Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of ICE, should not be knocking on the doors of individuals it suspects, often wrongly, are noncitizens who may be registered to vote.
uncertain
who → knock → individuals
The federal government has a general policy about not doing things in close proximity before an election, because it could interfere.
uncertain
it → have → election
That’s particularly true for the Department of Justice—they are not to undertake investigations, question individuals, or file charges in close proximity to an election.
asserted
they → ’ → election
This administration is not only ignoring those prohibitions; they’re actively ramping up as we get closer to an election, perhaps out of desperation.
asserted
we → ignore → desperation
If they had any possible legal justification to knock on doors, that should have been done months ago, not weeks before an election.
asserted
that → have → election
Once that happens, it runs the risk of seeming to be an intentional interference.
asserted
it → happen → risk
Beyond door-knocking, what could DHS do to interfere with the midterms?
uncertain
DHS → do → midterms
There’s virtually nothing they could easily do.
uncertain
they → ’ → ?
One thing that’s getting lost in all this—in the concerns about federal interference—is how much of a failure they all are.
asserted
they → lose → failure
The entire federal government has been weaponized to manufacture anything that could support President Trump’s false claims about voter fraud and voter theft.
uncertain
that → weaponize → fraud
Over 21 months, after mobilizing Homeland Security and the Department of Justice and the FBI and the intelligence community, they failed.
asserted
they → mobilize → Justice
Their two executive orders have been blocked by multiple courts, including the Supreme Court.
asserted
orders → block → Court
They are zero for 27 in their lawsuits trying to seize sensitive voter data, and nine of those courts have Trump-appointed judges!
asserted
nine → try → judges
They can’t get any legislation through a Congress that their own party controls.
asserted
party → get → that
Their investigations of past elections have resulted in nothing, and so this is all a lot of noise, and it’s failing.
asserted
it → result → noise
I mean, it’s being blocked.
asserted
it → mean → ?
The California [federal] court blocked that Homeland Security Investigations door-knocking.
asserted
court → block → knocking
The Missouri redistricting shenanigans were shut down by the Supreme Court.
asserted
shenanigans → shut → Court
The executive order on mail voting was blocked by the Supreme Court.
asserted
order → block → Court
A federal judge ruled against the frivolous California ballots lawsuit.
asserted
judge → rule → lawsuit
And the Alaska courts are going to strike down the even more frivolous lawsuit seeking to preemptively stop a state from certifying an election under its own laws.
asserted
courts → go → laws
So I don’t think we should lose the fact that, while it’s exhausting and it should not be normalized that the federal government is trying to do all these things, they are also complete failures.
asserted
they → think → things
And you’re skeptical that DHS would show up at the polls?
asserted
DHS → ’re → polls
I’m virtually certain it will not.
asserted
it → ’m → ?
Look, federal law is very clear: It is a felony to order troops or armed men, civilian or military, anywhere near a voting location, punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine, and really importantly, disqualification from federal office.
asserted
It → look → office
It will not happen.
asserted
It → happen → ?
But there’s another reason it won’t happen.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
…and 61 more, not listed.
The Aporia
