Judge consolidates three suits over federal agents at polling places as records deadline nears

By Ezra Whitfield

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration faces a Monday deadline to turn over internal Homeland Security directives and related records in a lawsuit over federal law enforcement at polling places, after a federal judge in Washington combined that case with two others challenging the same conduct ahead of the Nov. 3 election.

U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan on Friday consolidated three cases: League of United Latin American Citizens v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 26-cv-3157), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 26-cv-3263) and DSCC v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (No. 26-cv-3330). The parties in all three cases had been asked on Oct. 9 to state their positions on combining them.

The administration denies any plan to send agents to the polls. “ICE is not planning operations targeting polling locations,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement reported by 7News (WJLA) last week, adding that “if an active public safety threat endangered a polling location, they may be arrested as a result of that targeted enforcement action.” The Justice Department told the station: “The DOJ has never said it would send federal law enforcement to polling locations. Any suggestion otherwise is fearmongering.”

In court, government lawyers opposed early discovery. They argued the plaintiffs’ “actual purpose” was to “circumvent FOIA,” the Freedom of Information Act, and said they plan to seek dismissal on the ground that the plaintiffs lack standing, according to AliKhan’s Oct. 21 order.

What the judge ordered produced

In that 10-page order, AliKhan granted in part and denied in part the NAACP plaintiffs’ motion for expedited discovery. She ordered the defendants to produce two sets of records by Monday, Oct. 26.

The first is the documents already identified as responsive to Freedom of Information Act requests in a separate case, Democratic National Committee v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 26-cv-825).

The second is two DHS directives and anything that supplements or supersedes them. One is internal guidance, “reported by CNN on August 31, 2026,” that directed Homeland Security Investigations to expand elections-related investigations in at least nine states. The other is a 2026 memorandum or directive instructing HSI to coordinate with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in identifying, investigating or referring for prosecution people believed to have registered or voted while not citizens.

By Oct. 28, the government must produce documents on any assessment of “actual or anticipated threats relating to or during the 2026 General Election in the vicinity of a Voting Location” that governs when its personnel may be present at or operate near polling places, drop boxes or election offices. That includes any document rescinding or replacing the polling-place guidance in the Justice Department’s 2017 election-offenses manual or the DHS protected-areas policy rescinded around Jan. 20, 2025. A joint status report is due Oct. 29.

AliKhan refused a request for FOIA records about the government’s use of voter data and two interrogatories. She wrote that the voter-data request “appears to be more closely related to the merits of the case” than to the plaintiffs’ claim of imminent harm, and that the interrogatories sought legal conclusions.

She rejected the FOIA argument, writing that the plaintiffs “were under no obligation” to file their own FOIA requests. She also noted that “the inherently time-limited nature of the election cycle distinguishes this case.”

Who is suing

The NAACP suit, filed Sept. 18 under the Voting Rights Act, also names Mi Familia en Acción, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, the National Urban League, MN8, the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of Teachers, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades as plaintiffs. The defendants include DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, acting ICE Director David Venturella, Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel and White House border adviser Thomas Homan, according to the order.

In their reply brief, the plaintiffs told the court that if the government “substantively produce[s]” responsive material, they will propose a schedule for emergency relief within three business days.

The cases are separate from the Arlington County Board’s suit in federal court in Alexandria seeking to bar armed federal agents from county voting sites, which The Inquisitor reported Saturday.

The Inquisitor is seeking comment from the NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the National Urban League, the American Federation of Teachers and Mi Familia en Acción. The administration’s position is reflected in the DHS statement above.