Justice Department subpoenas Nevada over voter records, warns states

DOJ Subpoenas Nevada Over Voter Records

The Department of Justice has issued seven federal subpoenas to Nevada's secretary of state over the past three months, seeking detailed voter information and additional public registration records.

The subpoenas were issued by the FBI, and the DOJ and FBI did not immediately respond to media requests for comment. The disclosure came two months before Election Day as the Trump administration pressured Nevada to find noncitizens in its voter rolls.

A federal judge in Nevada last month dismissed a DOJ lawsuit that sought the state's entire unredacted voter registration list along with other election records in a ruling.

Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar said after the ruling that Nevada is now the 22nd consecutive state or jurisdiction to again prevail in the federal district court.

The DOJ recently warned states, including Nevada, that election officials could potentially face serious criminal charges for letting any noncitizens vote in all federal elections across the country.

DHS Launches Multi-State Voter Fraud Operation

The Department of Homeland Security this week launched an operation of hundreds of federal agents across nine states, including Nevada. The operation aims to investigate national voter fraud, according to separate reports published by CNN and The New York Times.

During a July prime-time address, President Donald Trump claimed that DHS had identified more than 278,000 noncitizens who were registered to vote nationwide in the United States.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Aguilar that the agency had found as many as 15,903 noncitizens in Nevada's voter records. Aguilar called the number speculative at best, and federal officials later confirmed only 185 names through a careful manual review.

Federal officials said that original figure was merely a ceiling and noted that their ongoing investigation still remained very preliminary at this early stage in Nevada.

A DHS official told Aguilar's staff that the agency had not yet made a criminal referral and that Nevada had nothing to worry about so far.

Census Plan Excludes Noncitizens From Counts

The Trump administration has proposed sweeping changes to the 2030 Census that could exclude millions of noncitizens from key population counts used for political representation and federal funding.

The proposed rules, published by the Census Bureau, would also remove questions on race and ethnicity from the main census. They would also bar the bureau from ever asking about sexual orientation or gender identity on any future census questionnaire.

The change involves a new stricter definition of usual residence based on various legal documentation and other official records, including federal tax returns and W-2 forms.

The proposal specifically targets undocumented immigrants and could also exclude people with certain temporary visas, all refugees, and asylum seekers. The administration argues that the Constitution's requirement to count the whole number of persons meant actual inhabitants and political community.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said the Constitution requires every person living in the US to be counted regardless of immigration status in the country.