On Oct. 21, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted our motion for a preliminary injunction. The court held that DHS’s efforts to investigate in the final weeks before Election Day, based on records known to be inaccurate and to misidentify U.S. citizens as noncitizens, is voter intimidation.

The order bars the Department of Homeland Security from conducting field operations related to individuals known or suspected to be citizens, and from conducting operations based solely on the flawed data sources without further investigation. The order applies in the nine states known to be involved in HSI’s preelection field operations surge: California, Connecticut, Georgia,
Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Beau Tremitiere, Counsel at Protect Democracy, said:

“Today, the courts affirmed a vital principle of our democracy: Voting is a fundamental right that citizens – whether born here or naturalized – should be able to exercise without armed government agents harassing them.

“It was clear from the start that DHS built its lists on bad data, never checked how often it was wrong, and recklessly sent agents to people’s homes weeks before an election. Today’s ruling should remind us that American citizens hold the ultimate power in our democracy, not the government–no matter what the administration says otherwise.”

The plaintiffs are the California Nurses Association, National Nurses United, the Voto Latino Foundation, the City and County of San Francisco, and Santa Clara County. Protect Democracy and the National Immigration Law Center represent the unions and Voto Latino, and the municipalities represent themselves. The suit was filed on Sept. 21, 2026, and the claims rest on the Voting Rights Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the U.S. Constitution.