Organizations sue U.S. government for agents in voting places

A action, filed in a federal court of the District of Columbia, aims at the Department of Homeland Security, the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) and the Department of Justice, as well as their respective responsible.

In a joint communiqué, the organisations stated that they want to protect and strengthen freedom of vote, “contributing to ensuring that all communities can participate fully in our democracy with confidence”.

According to the authors of the action, the federal government claimed authority to place armed agents in the vicinity of the voting venues, “it dismantled the internal safeguards of the agencies against electoral interference and made unprecedented attempts to impose executive power over the administration of the elections.”.

The organizations maintain that these measures may intimidate voters, particularly African-Americans, Latins, Asian Americans, inhabitants of the Pacific Islands, immigrants and naturalized citizens, as well as people belonging to families with mixed migratory status.

According to the action, these voters may be afraid to be questioned, detained or watched, or be the target of the use of force when they move to the voting venues.

Internal Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated that there will be no agents at the polling sites, a practice prohibited by federal law, but admitted exceptions if a warrant for detention is to be executed or a threat against a voting site.

Also FBI director Kash Patel left open during a Senate hearing this month the possibility of mobilizing federal agents to ensure what he classified as “the integrity of the electoral process.”.

The authors of the action consider that these statements undermine public confidence and may discourage voters from exercising the right to vote.

For this reason, they ask the court to prevent the use of security forces at the polling sites or in their vicinity.

The organisations also claim that, over the past year, the Federal Government has repeatedly “emptied or ignored” legislation during arrests, investigations and immigration control operations.