The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!
The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!

Get my Daily BS twice-a-day news stack directly to your email.


NAACP goes to court over Trump’s federal agents at the polls — DOJ calls out ‘fearmongering’

by

BS BULLETIN:

  • The NAACP and eight other organizations filed a federal lawsuit Friday seeking restrictions on federal law-enforcement activity at or near polling places.
  • The groups argue that the prospect of armed federal agents, including immigration officers, could unlawfully intimidate eligible voters.
  • DOJ calls the premise “fearmongering,” while DHS says immigration agents will not patrol polling places.

The battle over who will be watching America’s polling places this November has moved into federal court.

The NAACP and a coalition of civil-rights, immigrant and labor organizations sued the Trump administration Friday, seeking a court order preventing federal law-enforcement officers from being deployed at or around polling places in ways the groups contend could intimidate voters.

The lawsuit names multiple agencies and administration officials, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, FBI Director Kash Patel, and White House border czar Tom Homan.

The plaintiffs argue that administration statements about potentially using federal law enforcement around elections have already created fear among some eligible voters, particularly naturalized citizens and people living in mixed-immigration-status households.

They are asking the court to prohibit federal agents from engaging in conduct that unlawfully intimidates people who are voting or helping others vote. The lawsuit relies in part on Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits intimidation, threats or coercion against people for voting or attempting to vote.

The Trump administration is pushing back hard against the premise.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kiersten Pels called it “fearmongering” to suggest DOJ had announced plans to send federal law-enforcement agents to polling places.

The Justice Department has announced plans to deploy roughly 1,000 election monitors for the midterms — something The Daily BS previously reported. Federal election monitoring itself isn’t new. Democratic and Republican administrations have used DOJ personnel to observe compliance with federal election laws.

But DOJ election monitors and armed immigration-enforcement agents are not the same thing. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said immigration officers will not patrol polling places. He has also said, however, that agents could respond to polling locations if there were threats or if officers needed to execute warrants.

That’s the distinction now at the center of the legal fight.

The plaintiffs contend the administration has dismantled previous guardrails separating federal law enforcement from elections and that statements suggesting agents could operate around voting locations have already chilled participation. The administration disputes those allegations.

The NAACP lawsuit isn’t even the first court challenge.

The Washington Post reports that another coalition, including the League of United Latin American Citizens, filed a separate lawsuit earlier this month seeking to keep federal immigration officers away from polling locations.

The NAACP had already been scrutinizing the administration’s election plans.

Earlier this month, the organization filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking details about DOJ’s planned deployment of more than 1,000 election monitors, including where they would be sent, what authority they would exercise and how they would be trained.

Now that fight has escalated from records requests and political warnings to a federal lawsuit. And with the midterms approaching, a judge could ultimately have a say in exactly where federal agents may — and may not — go on Election Day.

DBS WIRE SOURCES:

today’s hot news