Schumer and Jeffries Sue Trump Administration, Accusing It of Using Shaky Noncitizen Lists to Seize Control of the Midterms

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (TodayViralUSA) — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have sued the Trump administration, accusing it of using unreliable lists of supposed noncitizens and threats of prosecution to pressure states into purging voters before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

The lawsuit, filed late Tuesday in federal court in Washington, asks a judge to bar the administration from removing legally registered voters from state rolls or denying them ballots, and to declare that it has illegally threatened state election officials, NBC News reported.

Who is suing, and whom

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Governors Association and the Nevada State Democratic Party joined the suit, along with Erick Jose Jimenez, a California voter and naturalized citizen since 2006 who says he fears being wrongly flagged as a noncitizen, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The defendants are President Trump, the Justice Department, Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Department of Homeland Security and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. The case was assigned to Chief Judge James Boasberg.

The claims

The complaint alleges a coordinated effort, in violation of the 10th Amendment and other federal law, to intimidate election officials into removing voters, denying ballots and setting aside others “based on spurious and unreliable claims that they are not citizens.” It calls the administration’s fraud claims a “pretext to seize control over elections.”

The suit points to the Justice Department’s case against California, where the administration has asked a court to force the state to set aside ballots from about 20,000 voters it flagged as “likely noncitizens.” Los Angeles County officials say a preliminary review found many people on the list were born in the U.S., were not registered or had never voted, and that only 7,035 of the 20,930 names have addresses in the county.

Administration responds

A Justice Department spokesperson said election integrity is a top priority and that the department’s actions are “grounded in the law and being litigated in open court.” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said the administration is “taking decisive lawful action to protect our elections,” adding, “Anyone who illegally votes in our elections will be held accountable.”

The filing came a day after federal prosecutors charged 28 California green card holders with election-related crimes, which the administration cited as proof its list is accurate. A Homeland Security official acknowledged in a court filing that “discrepancies” had been found in about 189 records.