Three advocacy groups sued the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, claiming the agency illegally gathered voter registration files from at least 47 states and combined them with commercial data in its hunt for noncitizen voters.
The League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the League of United Latin American Citizens filed the complaint in federal court in Washington, D.C. Fox News reported the lawsuit early Friday. DHS did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
What the lawsuit claims
- The data: The complaint says DHS has obtained some version of the voter rolls of at least 47 states. Depending on the state, those files can include Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, birth dates, addresses, party affiliation and voting history.
- Commercial records: The groups say DHS added information bought from commercial data services to the voter files.
- The legal argument: The suit claims DHS skipped steps the federal Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act require before an agency builds a new set of records on Americans, including public notice.
- What they want: The groups ask the court to declare the program illegal, block it, bar DHS from using or sharing the data and order the agency to delete what it has collected.
The case is League of Women Voters v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, No. 1:26-cv-03602. The groups are represented by Democracy Forward and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
The administration’s position
The Trump administration says it is using federal data to keep noncitizens from voting. On Sept. 25, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to let DHS keep using its SAVE system to check the citizenship of registered voters.
“American elections are for Americans,” DHS General Counsel James Percival said after that ruling. “The Trump Administration and the Department of Homeland Security will use every tool at our disposal to secure our elections.”
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Attorney General Todd Blanche announced federal charges Sept. 30 against 10 foreign nationals accused of voting illegally in Minnesota, according to DHS.
Related fights over voter rolls
- California: The Justice Department sued California on Thursday over about 20,000 people on its rolls that federal officials flagged as likely noncitizens. iSEARK.com covered that case in Justice Department sues California over 20,000 likely noncitizens on voter rolls.
- Other states: The complaint says the Justice Department has sued 30 states and the District of Columbia for refusing to hand over full voter files, while at least 16 states have provided or offered them.
- Arkansas: The complaint does not list the 47 states, so the filing does not show whether Arkansas’s voter file is among them.
Election Day is Nov. 3.
Sources: Complaint in League of Women Voters v. DHS, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, filed Oct. 15, 2026; League of Women Voters and EPIC joint release; U.S. Department of Homeland Security releases of Sept. 25 and Oct. 1, 2026; Fox News.
