News
Second lawsuit this month challenges ICE presence at the polls
Second lawsuit this month challenges ICE presence at the polls. Originally published by Arizona Mirror.
By Ariana Figueroa · 2026-09-18T17:20:43.098Z
Signs in English and Spanish direct voters to the polls at the Salt Lake County Government Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch WASHINGTON — A coalition of civil rights groups and union organizations Friday sued the Trump administration to prevent the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to polling locations during November’s midterm elections. The suit https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74811483/national association for the advancement of colored people v us/ in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is the second this month https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/suit challenges trump administration move allow some ice presence polling places , following comments from top Trump officials citing a federal policy to allow ICE officers to enter polling locations in certain circumstances to conduct immigration enforcement. The groups argue the policy violates the federal law https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/592 that prohibits “armed men” at election sites, and also causes voter intimidation, which is barred under the Voting Rights Act. Under federal law, “troops” or “armed men” are allowed at polling locations only if “such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.” And the section https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/52/10101 of the Voting Rights Act the groups cite prohibits “intimidation,” “threats,” or “coercion” against a person for voting or attempting to vote. “The result is predictable: voters across the country—particularly Black, Latino, and Asian voters, naturalized citizens, and members of mixed status families—are afraid to vote, help others vote, and participate in civic life,” according to the suit. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin earlier this month noted that agents could conduct immigration enforcement at polling places. And before U.S. senators this week, FBI Director Kash Patel did not rule out https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/fbis patel dodges questions election interference rambunctious us senate hearing sending FBI agents to polling locations, but said officers would “follow the law.” The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s requests for comment Friday. “We reject this administration’s attempt to desecrate our polling sites by converting them into militarized zones through the unlawful deployment of ICE or any other federal agent,” Kristen Clarke, the NAACP’s general counsel, said in a statement. NAACP is one of nine groups that filed suit. The rest are Mi Familia en Accion, Asian Pacific American Advocates, the National Urban League, Minnesota 8, the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of Teachers, the International Union of Painters and the United Food and Commercial Workers International. “Turning the fundamental right of exercising our vote into a high stakes encounter with the militarized strong arm of the current administration isn’t protection and it isn’t oversight; it’s disenfranchisement, period,” Clarke said. “The NAACP calls on the court to reject this blatant attempt by federal officials to obstruct our elections through tactics pulled straight from the Jim Crow playbook.” The nine groups are represented by the Legal Defense Fund, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, the National Immigration Law Center, Protect Democracy https://protectdemocracy.org/ and the Democracy Defenders Fund.