A person who exposed wrongdoing within the government says officers from Homeland Security investigating voter fraud were told they would not face personal punishment even if they broke state laws while accessing voter records. The account, made public on Monday, also describes data that is unreliable and contradictions between records.
Ahead of the midterm elections, the Trump administration has intensified its investigation into noncitizen voting. This kind of voting happens rarely, and the probe has turned up only a small number of instances so far.
State Website Searches
Homeland had collected data on voters, and officers were instructed to input that data onto state websites where citizens can verify their voter information. A number of states demand that visitors click confirmations stating they are the voter or authorized by the voter. In Virginia, the Department of Elections website requires users to affirm: “I certify and affirm that the information provided to access my voter registration is my own or I am expressly authorized by the voter to access this information. I understand that it is unlawful to access the record of any other voter, punishable as computer fraud.”
The lawyers representing the whistleblower through the Democracy Defenders Fund noted in their disclosure that officers expressed concern over the legality of the searches. Their worry centered on officers essentially misrepresenting themselves as the potential registered voter, with or without a specific attestation.
What The General Counsel Said
A slide in the presentation officers watched said Homeland’s office of the general counsel “advised that this type of review is permissible as open-source research when conducted for purposes related to adjudicative or investigative responsibilities.” It also said there was an effort to get further clarification from Homeland leadership, and officers were told that immigration officers and immigration service officers “are not personally liable for conducting these searches when done as part of their official duties and properly documented.”
The remark implies that accessing these sites could carry legal consequences, though it makes clear that the officers themselves would not face any personal liability. The lawyers representing the person who exposed wrongdoing say this leads them to conclude that USCIS-FDNS HQ is aware the activity may be against the law, and yet they continue to demand that officers take part in this illegal activity while promising them personal liability protection.
Homeland did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Data Reliability Problems
The source expressed concern over the reliability of the information Homeland supplied for officers to review, alongside the secrecy surrounding its origins.
In some cases, Homeland gave officers an individual’s name and specific dates on which they registered and voted. But when an officer looked up the individual in the state’s voter registration website, there was no record of the voter. “With such a direct contradiction, knowing the specific source and date of the information is necessary to determine reliability before taking any action,” the disclosure says.
This disclosure describes a major issue in California, where officers frequently found themselves unable to access the voter registration database. Instead, they were instructed to make a record for the individual in Tecs, which is a Homeland database used by law enforcement officials to share information.
The disclosure says “The result is that a significant number of Tecs records, potentially thousands or tens of thousands, will be created against California residents based on data that an officer may have good reason to believe is unreliable or inaccurate without corroboration,”.
Pressure To Find Fraud
According to the lawyers representing the whistleblower, officers received a single training session on 21 August, after which they were told to begin their research four days later. They were supposed to look into five people each hour.
Other Officials Have Raised Concerns
Earlier this year, Homeland told Nevada election officials it had identified as many as 15,903 non-citizens on its rolls. In a meeting last month, Homeland representatives told the Nevada secretary of state’s office they had made that claim by comparing the state’s July 2025 public voter rolls against Homeland data. When Homeland began reviewing the data, they had only firmly identified 185 non-citizens on the rolls, though they said their review was ongoing.
Political Response
A California senator, Alex Padilla, who is a Democrat, answered to the disclosure. The senator said the whistleblower’s disclosure lays out serious claims about improper and wrong behavior, including what could be thousands of violations of state law and the use of data that raises real questions.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s minority leader, offered his own reaction to the new Homeland initiative. He characterized it as an unlawful directive from the government aimed at silencing the voices of Americans.
What The Whistleblower Says
The tale is told by a single witness. Everything depends upon what that one writer set down in print.
| Step | Timing |
|---|---|
| Training for officers | 21 August |
| Officers expected to start researching | Four days after training |
| Officers expected to examine five individuals per hour |
Voting rights sit at the center of the midterm elections. The stakes surrounding them could not be higher.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.