The Trump administration is intensifying its crackdown on illegal noncitizen voting, with confirmation that the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk has received at least five federal grand jury subpoenas.
According to subpoenas obtained by the Los Angeles Times through a public records request on the 29th, federal investigative authorities demanded that LA County election officials submit voter registration and voting records for specific individuals to investigate potential noncitizen voting.
First, four of the five subpoenas were issued on July 13 and the 10th of this month, respectively. Investigators ordered the submission of all relevant records for the target voters from January 2020 to the present.
The requests included voter registration documents, addresses, voting history and methods, and citizenship verification records. However, the identities of the investigation targets were redacted in the subpoenas released by LA County to the LA Times, preventing the exact number of targets from being confirmed.
The remaining subpoena was issued on July 31 and requested records for one specific voter, according to officials. However, ballot-casting detailsβsuch as which candidate the voter voted for or how they voted on measuresβwere excluded from the submission requirements.
This investigation is reportedly led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
LA County officials expressed deep concern over the selection process used by federal investigators for the investigation targets.
Dean Logan, the LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, pointed out, “We have not received any information from investigative authorities regarding the criteria and basis used to select the investigation targets,” adding, “We cannot rule out the possibility that inaccurate or outdated information was used.
This investigation is interpreted as part of the Trump administration’s nationwide push to crack down on illegal noncitizen voting. The U.S. Department of Justice recently indicted 16 noncitizens across six states on election-related crimes, including illegal voting.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court also issued a decision on the 25th allowing state and local election officials to utilize the federal immigration status verification system ‘SAVE’ to check voters’ citizenship status. Consequently, election officials can now directly verify the eligibility of registered voters through this system.
