Justice Department urges sanctions for database analysis critical of its noncitizen voting claims

Key Points:

• The Justice Department defended the accuracy of a list alleging over 20,000 suspected noncitizens registered to vote in California and suggested contempt charges against an immigrant rights group for publishing an analysis of the list.
• The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) accessed the federal data under court order but revealed that over 40% of the names do not appear on California’s voter rolls, with some individuals likely naturalized citizens and thousands of U.S. citizens included.
• The Justice Department argued that CHIRLA’s analysis violated court orders by disclosing information unrelated to their legal standing, and requested a referral for possible criminal contempt of court.
• In a separate case, the Justice Department appealed a ruling that barred it from demanding election offices remove or segregate ballots of possible noncitizens, with a hearing scheduled soon.
• California officials and courts have repeatedly challenged the Trump administration’s efforts to act on the noncitizen voter list, citing errors in the data and the risk of disrupting elections.