“The presence of federal force at the polls interferes with the smooth administration of elections at the local level,” the lawsuit alleges. “It disrupts voting and makes it more difficult for state and local election officials and law enforcement to do their jobs by making polling places spaces of confrontation.”
The City of Denver and a coalition of non-profit organizations have filed a lawsuit asking the courts to stop the Trump administration from letting armed immigration agents execute arrest warrants at polling sites.
According to The New York Times, the lawsuit, filed earlier this week in a Washington, D.C.-based federal court, claims that the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement allow federal agents to enforce civil immigration law at polling locations as a matter of regular policy. This practice, the lawsuit alleges, violates federal laws protecting free and fair elections.
“The presence of federal force at the polls interferes with the smooth administration of elections at the local level,” the lawsuit alleges. “It disrupts voting and makes it more difficult for state and local election officials and law enforcement to do their jobs by making polling places spaces of confrontation.”
In response to the lawsuit, the Department of Homeland Security said that it any arrests conducted at, near, or around polling sites are strictly the result of “intelligence-driven targeted enforcement.”
“The only reason why we would be at polling places is if there is a threat to that polling place,” Mullin said during a September press conference. “Or we’re serving a warrant.”
But the plaintiffs in the case say that any armed presence—targeted or not—could deter Americans from going out to vote.
“The presence of armed federal agents at the drop boxes may deter Denver voters from returning their ballots and may intimidate or disrupt election judges and staff from attempting to collect those ballots, impairing the Clerk’s ability to collect ballots as required by Colorado law,” the lawsuit alleges.
In a statement, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said that his administration plans to support the lawsuit.
“The right to vote, and to do so without fear of intimidation, is fundamental to our democracy and to being an American,” Johnston said in a press statement released by the plaintiff organizations. “Stationing ICE agents near polling places is only meant to scare people and suppress votes. We’ll fight tooth and nail to prevent it.”
Janet Murguia, president and chief executive of UnidosUS, similarly said that sending officers to election sites is “not immigration enforcement” but “voter suppression, plain and simple.”
Sources
Denver, Latino groups sue to keep ICE agents away from voting places
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