Trump administration sued over threat to deploy federal law enforcement at voting sites

A coalition of civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against Trump administration officials on Friday, seeking to stop them from threatening to deploy federal law enforcement officers to polling stations in the US midterm elections.

The suit, led by the NAACP, alleges that by threatening to deploy law enforcement to survey elections and initiating new voter roll oversight, the Trump administration has violated a section of the Voting Rights Act which prohibits voter intimidation.

“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,” the plaintiffs wrote in the complaint.

Plaintiffs cited other examples of voter intimidation, such as Donald Trump giving a primetime address to exaggerate claims of noncitizen voting, the administration’s sweeping immigration enforcement operations in communities of color, and Trump’s efforts to create a national voter eligibility list.

Friday’s lawsuit is the latest attempt by groups to stop Trump from asserting more control over US elections as the country heads into what is expected to be a competitive midterm in November.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said “those who are here legally and not breaking other laws have nothing to fear” and denied that ICE was planning operations targeting polling locations.

“ICE conducts intelligence-driven targeted enforcement, and if an active public safety threat endangered a polling location, they may be arrested as a result of that targeted enforcement action,” the spokesperson added.

DHS denied allegations of law enforcement engaging in racial profiling, calling the accusations “categorically FALSE” and insisting that targets of immigration enforcement were whether a person was in the US illegally, not by skin color, race or ethnicity.

The FBI declined to comment for this story. ICE referred the Guardian to DHS.

A White House official pointed to the administration’s past remarks denying any plan to deploy ICE agents to polls in November. Karoline Leavitt, the former White House press secretary, told reporters in February it was “not something I’ve ever heard the president consider”.

Kiersten Pels, a justice department spokesperson, said in a statement: “The DOJ has never said it would send federal law enforcement to polling locations. Any suggestion otherwise is fearmongering.”

Federal law states that no armed federal officers or members of the armed forces may be placed at a location where an election is being held.

So far, the administration has not sent any armed officers or military members to polling locations.

But recent mixed-messaging from top administration officials has raised concerns among election integrity advocates.

In May, Trump did not rule out the possibility of sending the National Guard or ICE officers to polling locations.

Kash Patel, the FBI director, told lawmakers this week that the FBI “will not shy away” from its efforts to ensure elections are safe and honest when asked whether he planned to send FBI agents the polls.

“If there’s a reason to go there because there’s been a violation, we will, otherwise we won’t,” he added, noting that “we’re going to house our agents and intel analysts in our field offices”.

Earlier this month, Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary, told reporters ICE would not be at polling locations to patrol but could be present if there was a threat or if they were serving a warrant to someone.

“As a nation, we have no need for armed presence at polling locations – our elections are safe and transparent, which has been the hallmark of our democracy,” said Kristen Clarke, general counsel at the NAACP, in a statement after the lawsuit was filed.

“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 added.

Friday’s lawsuit is at least the second of its kind. Last week a coalition of groups, led by the League of United Latin American Citizens, also sued the administration seeking to stop it from deploying ICE officers to polling locations.