Armed federal agents knock on doors looking for noncitizen voters

Uniformed, armed investigators from Homeland Security have been turning up at homes in several states to ask residents about their citizenship and whether they have registered or voted, CBS News reports. The effort aims to find noncitizens on voter rolls ahead of the midterms, and critics say it may scare eligible voters away from the polls.

DHS alleges that as many as 250,000 people are illegally registered, though election experts dispute that estimate. The Justice Department counts 156 people charged with voting-fraud offenses since the Trump administration began, against 227 million registered voters. On Monday, the department announced that agents in California arrested more than 20 green card holders over alleged illegal registration or voting.

Internal documents show hundreds of Homeland Security Investigations agents were reassigned to a voter-fraud surge in at least six states. Jessica Marsden, a lawyer at Protect Democracy, which is suing over the program, says it appears built to frighten lawful voters. Representative Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, has asked DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to halt it. A DHS spokesperson says people living in the country legally and following the law need not worry.

Summarized by PolitiKool from CBS News’s reporting. Read the full story at CBS News →