Overview
- Homeland Security Investigations has opened a coordinated investigative surge in nine states to follow leads on alleged noncitizen registration and voting and to support criminal referrals.
- The Department of Homeland Security says its database matches have flagged more than 24,000 potential noncitizens on rolls since April 2025 and the agency is seeking a contractor for up to $5 million to collect public voter registration and history files from states.
- Civil‑rights groups led by the UCLA Voting Rights Project filed a federal suit to stop DHS from using federal databases like SAVE to screen voter lists, arguing the matches are error‑prone, nontransparent and intimidate naturalized citizens.
- State election officials across targeted states have publicly criticized the operation, reported receiving only small subpoenas for limited numbers of voters, or said they were not consulted before the surge became public.
- The Justice Department announced five recent voter‑fraud prosecutions, but reporting shows only a handful of confirmed cases so far, keeping the gap between large 'potential match' counts and verified criminal cases a central legal and political issue.